


Shoot and Tell

by ddotmac



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Secret Agents, Angst, Blackmail, But Only In Chapter 20, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, F/M, I'm Not A Native Spanish Speaker But My Spanish Dialogue Is Definitely Better Than RVB's, Jealousy, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Smut, Trust Issues, no i did not know lucas steele was a real person before writing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 07:20:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 22,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20596892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddotmac/pseuds/ddotmac
Summary: Agent Lucas Steele has his work cut out for him when he's suddenly blackmailed by the irritatingly charming Felix Mercury. They must help each other to take down the great Cyrus Cobalt, whilst escorting one another through memory lane and hoping the other doesn't notice their lingering gazes.





	1. A Chance Arrangement

Sam Ortez was relatively well off in life. He had a good amount of close friends, a fantastic high-paying job, and an easy cover for it. Not a one of those friends suspected a thing.

He wasn’t a loudmouth about it. Unlike most of the others in his field. Unlike many of them, he was convinced that no civilian could be trusted, not even close personal ones. And even if one found out by chance, they were never mad. They thought it was so cool.

...it was pretty cool.

What wasn’t very cool, to be perfectly candid, was this ball he was all but forced to attend, so that he could say he had been there. He had been sitting alone at the bar for several hours, ignoring everyone and trying to shut out the fake, shrill laughter of politicians’ wives, drinking ice water and occasionally getting glares from the bartender. 

Sam epitomized the phrase “tall, dark, and handsome,” but he had a way of turning his charisma off when he wanted to be left alone. He wasn’t expecting any unsolicited flirtations tonight, and hoped he could go home without much of a fuss, but life always finds a way to ruin one’s plans. 

“Hi there,” a casual voice said annoyingly as its owner sidled up to the bar, wearing a light grey suit jacket and pants with a silk lavender shirt, looking very full of himself, which almost definitely had something to do with the price of the suit and the shirt. “Can I buy you a drink?”

Sam pursed his lips and drummed his fingers. “Thank you, but I don’t drink.”

The man smirked and leaned on his elbow, slowly working his way into Sam’s personal space. “What are you doing at the bar, then?”

“It’s quieter over here,” Sam said, taking a sip of his water. “I’m less likely to get approached by annoying strangers.”

The guy just laughed. “You’re cute,” he said, drawing up one of the barstools. “What’s your name?”

“Lucas,” Sam said, like a liar, and stared down his nose at the intruder. “Steele. Not that it’s any of your business.”

The man blinked for a second at that, and shook away the thought quickly. “I don’t suppose you’re here with anyone?” he said, eyes half-lidded, a flirtatious smile on his face, reaching his hand forward to set it next to Sam’s.

His gaze jumped to it, never moving a muscle, and finally he made eye contact with the man. “Ask me another question like that and I’ll personally see to it that you’re never able to pick up anyone ever again.”

He recoiled, drawing his hand back as from a hot burner, eyes wide. “Mister Steele, you... a threat like that in a place like this? Surely you aren’t serious.” He almost sounded incredulous.

Sam closed his eyes and took another drink. “As the grave.” 

The man stared for a moment, slack-jawed, before sticking his hand out for Sam to shake. “I’m, uh.. Felix. It’s nice to meet you.”

“That would have been a good first thing to say,” Sam said, refusing to take the hand. “And I get the feeling you’re only showing me politeness because you’re afraid of me.” Felix sharply inhaled, and that was when Sam realized he had definitely seen his face somewhere before. He loosened up a bit, downing the rest of his water. This conversation wouldn’t last much longer. 

Felix narrowed his eyes - resorting to anger as a mask for his fear, the tactic was all too familiar to Sam - and leaned forward onto the counter. “‘Steele’ isn’t your real last name, is it?” he muttered. 

Sam pursed his lips. “No,” he said curtly. “It isn’t.”

“Would you care to tell me what it is?” The merest note of sarcasm tinted his voice; likely another sign of his rapidly burning fuse. 

“If you want that information, you can look it up yourself,” he said, staring pointedly at the bar. “You’re an agent, aren’t you?” As he swung his gaze up to confirm this, the shaken look on his face told him everything he needed to know. “You’re not very subtle, Mr. Gates.”

He started. “How—“

Sam grinned wolfishly and stood up from the bar, walking away briskly and speaking over his shoulder. “Good night, Isaac.”

* * *

As Sam was getting into his car that night, he glanced up and saw Isaac leaned against the wall of an alley across the street. He rolled his eyes and closed the door, throwing his driver a vague comment to wait up for him.

“Can I help you with something?” he said when he got within hearing range.

“You’re Agent Steele,” Isaac responded without hesitation. “You’re the guy who got decommissioned from MOIRA.”

The blood drained from Sam’s face. “You’re not very subtle either,” Isaac continued smugly, arms folded and one foot against the wall. His smile flickered away just as quickly as it came. “But I’m not here to kill you or mock you or anything. I—I need your help.” 

“You didn’t know who I was at the beginning of this evening,” Sam said slowly. “So y—“

“Alright, yeah, fine, I was at this party looking for someone to take home, but I do actually need your help. Are you fucking happy?” 

Sam blushed. “That’s not—“ He cleared his throat. “You know I don’t have any resources, right?”

Isaac’s eyes widened. “You were _ burned? _”

“No,” Sam blurted out, “of course not. I’m just not allowed to do any field work, officially speaking, but you don’t work with MOIRA, do you?”

Isaac looked away. “No, I.. I work for TMS.”

“Oh, shit.”

There was a brief silence in which Sam knocked the toe of his shoe against the ground a few times, looking anywhere but Isaac’s face. “Well, um,” he coughed. “Again. I have no resources. But—“

“That’s alright, this is, um..” He fumbled with the words. “This is off the record,” he eventually chewed out, glaring at a distant point to his left. 

“O-oh.”

“Are you familiar with one Cyrus Cobalt?”

Sam’s jaw worked. “Vaguely.”

“Yeah, well, he has something on me that I can’t let get out,” Isaac spat bitterly, still seriously intimidating some trash cans on the other side of the street, arms folded like a stubborn toddler. “And I don’t want to kill him or anything, but I want to find something just as good to get myself back in the game.”

“And I can help you with this.. how?” 

Isaac shifted. “I don’t know, I’ve just... heard about your exploits in regards to, uh. Espionage.” He staunchly turned his gaze towards the floor, refusing to see the moment when Sam’s muscles tensed.

“That was a long time ago, Agent Mercury,” Sam said, in the stern tone of someone being reminded of their own heinous actions, long since forgone and forgiven, but still existent. 

“They said it was like you could move through walls and turn invisible,” Isaac said, finally looking him in the eye, somewhat dazzled. “That’s not.. is that really true?”

“What?” Sam half-laughed. “Don’t be— of course not. That’s impossible. I was just, very good at my job. And, uh, I’d like to know what this information is that Cyrus has before I agree to anything.”

Isaac’s eyes went wide and he blushed furiously. “It’s— a personal matter. No one was harmed and I’m not doing anything illegal or anything.”

“O...kay,” Sam said slowly. “So. You want me to put my total faith in someone I just met, who rudely flirted with me, works for a rival agency, and won’t even describe the job to me?”

“You could do that,” Isaac replied smoothly, pulling a short black stick out of his shirt pocket. “Or I could turn this in to your superiors.” 

“I—”

Before Sam could react, it was gone and something else appeared between Isaac’s thumb and forefinger with a flourish, pressed into his hand while he stared dumbly. “Here’s my card. You have forty-eight hours.” And just like that, he strolled away.


	2. A Rock and a Hard Place

Sam closed the door softly behind him to find that his roommates were still awake anyway. They sat on the floor cocooned in blankets, illuminated by the blue glow of a television screen, quiet gunshot noises burbling from the speakers. “Oh, hey, Sam!” Tucker said, not looking away. “Can we keep it down tonight? David’s asleep in the other room.”

“On the night I was planning to burn the apartment down?” Sam said, shrugging off his jacket. “How inconsiderate of him. I’ve had that on the calendar for months.” The two of them stifled laughs and rolled their eyes.

“So how was the, uh.. party?” Dexter asked, only tearing his gaze away for a second to acknowledge Sam’s presence.

“‘Party’ implies that fun things were happening. It was just a banquet. A formality, really.”   


“Why did you have to go?”

“It’s ‘cause that one guy is running for the... the one thing,” Tucker responded absentmindedly, procuring a particularly violent button mash.   


“Victor Truman is running for president of the Legislative Council.” He said this, in spite of the fact that he knew Dexter would forget it in five minutes. 

“Yeah, that,” he said, waving Sam off with one hand. “Why do politicians throw these stupid parties anyway?”

“Usually, to attract lobbyists.”

“You know what?” Dexter said brazenly, slamming his controller down, appearing to have lost. “I’m sorry I asked.”

“You should be.” Sam deposited his jacket on the back of a chair, carefully transferring Isaac’s card from there to his pants pocket. “It’s all very boring.”

Tucker turned to face him, resting his elbow on the couch cushion. “I thought you weren’t allowed to practice with your firm right now. Why’d they let you in?”

Sam smirked. “Well, Truman’s door staff is terribly underpaid and overworked, and I’m not a drunk asshole at any of those parties, so they generally let me in without too much of a fuss. I figured I wouldn’t see any of my coworkers there - believe me, it’s huge - and I wouldn’t raise any suspicion amongst the affluent crowd about my employment.” He began unbuttoning his shirt. “I didn’t go there for fun. I figured it was important for appearance’s sake.”

“All those parties and you’ve never managed to bring anybody home,” Dexter tsked, shaking his head. “And you’re fucking ripped, too.” Tucker and Sam glared at him. “What! I’m right, you know. Just because I have a boyfriend doesn’t mean I can’t point out obvious facts.”

“He kinda has a point, though,” Tucker tacked on tentatively, gauging Sam’s reaction. “If you meet somebody we could all six live together and pool our money for a studio or something.”   


Sam undid his belt and put it over his shoulder, snorting. “The kinds of people I meet in this business are definitely not long-term relationship material.” His fingers brushed against the business card in his pocket and he squared his jaw. “I’m going to go sleep. I’m so tired of these formalities. When it’s silent, I can still hear the corporate chatter.”

“Alright,” Tucker said, the game sounds starting back up. “G’night, Sam.”   


He slipped into his room quietly and undid his ponytail, running a hand through his hair with a sigh. He shed off his shirt and pulled the card out of his pocket. It proclaimed, in tidy black letters, “Isaac Gates: Coordinator and planner.” It was a pretty good cover. Nice and nonspecific. There was a work and cell number listed. 

Everybody knew Cyrus Cobalt. He was arguably the best in the business. There was nowhere he couldn’t break into, nothing he couldn’t find, and no one he couldn’t dig up dirt on. Whatever vendetta he had against Isaac...

Sam shook off the notion. He didn’t want to think about why the most influential spy on the planet had something against this arrogant, flirtatious, know-nothing twink with an undercut and an axe to grind. But he couldn’t afford to have his agency know he was skulking around despite not being allowed. It seemed like he didn’t have a choice. He sighed again and picked up his second phone.

“Hello?”

“It’s Lucas.”

There was a soft chuckle. “That didn’t take long.”

“Yeah, well,” Sam said, seriously regretting it, “rock and a hard place.”   


“Meet me at Ivory’s tomorrow. You’ll know where I am.”   


The line went down and Sam collapsed into bed, covering his face with his hands. He was almost at peace when the door creaked open and a bleary-eyed David wandered in, wearing a loose shirt that no doubt belonged to Tucker. “Hey, Sam,” he said, in the cloying tone of someone about to ask for something, “is there any tortellini left?”

“Yeah, in the fridge,” Sam replied, rolling over onto his side. “There isn’t much, but there should be at least a few servings.”

“Thank youuuuu,” David slurred, grinning. “I think Dexter is having Rich over tomorrow, you should cook again.”

Sam kicked off his pants and pulled the blanket up over his body. “Sorry, can’t, I have to go on a business trip. I just got the call.” David looked sadly at the floor and Sam added hastily, “But maybe I can make something before I leave.”   


He looked up with a smile and thanked Sam again quickly, closing the door behind him, staggering a bit before making his way stiffly down the hall. Sam blew air through his lips and flipped over onto his stomach, finally allowing himself to close his eyes.


	3. Relationship Material

Day 1

When he left the following morning, the promised pan of lasagna left on the counter, he rolled his windows down and let the wind dry his hair. He was wearing a simple blue button-up shirt and dress pants. He had no idea what he’d be dealing with upon arrival, and he wanted to be prepared for anything, makeup set and hair carefully pulled back as he entered the lobby of the hotel and took the elevator up to the casino.   


It was a weird place to meet, Sam thought, but not too strange; very public, but loud enough that their conversation would fly under the radar. He scanned the tables for that pointed face, those cheekbones that could probably cut glass, and his jaw dropped a little at the sight of him.

He was in the middle of a table, wearing a pressed white shirt with a black vest and bow tie, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, laughing with some patrons as he deftly passed cards around. Sam swallowed and approached the game, sitting in the nearest chair as though he was sure it would fall out from under him. “Is it too late to deal me in?”

“Oh, hey, man!” he said cheerily, reshuffling his remaining cards and tossing five of them to Sam. “Fellas, I’d like to introduce you to Lucas, a close personal friend of mine.”

“Really? I’ve never met this Lucas. How’d you two meet?” sneered a face from a couple seats down.

“I’m a lawyer,” Sam embellished quickly. “I represented him in a case a long time ago.” He flashed what he hoped was a genuine smile at Isaac. “We’ve been good friends ever since.”

“So how is he?” one of the other men said, and he got slapped on the shoulder.

Isaac rolled his eyes. “Shut up, I don’t sleep with  _ all _ of my friends.” Sam blushed furiously and picked up the cards in front of him hurriedly, throwing his ante onto the table. “Can we just start the game?” He examined them carefully.  _ Okay. Five-card pickup. I can do that.   
_

He selected the one he wanted to hand back and slid it across the table to Isaac. “Only one card?” the same man who was teasing him said. “Somebody’s cocky.” He didn’t look away from Isaac, gazing up into his eyes almost earnestly. Something changed in the way Isaac looked back at him and he grinned softly, passing him another card back. “No tell, eh? Not even any shit talking? Well, you know what they say about lawyers.”   


Sam shrugged. “It’s in my best interest not to make unnecessary comments in the courtroom, and I’m quite good at it, so I can do this without making a fool of myself.”

The man bristled. “Whatever,” he growled, sitting back in his chair. “You’re full of it.”

Sam drew up his card and examined it, face totally flat. “Rubber and glue, my friend.”

Isaac had to stifle a laugh.  _ What am I, five? I’ve interacted with this man for less than a day and I’ve already stooped to his level. _ Sam was shaken from his internal monologue scolding him by receiving exactly the card he’d been hoping for. He added it to his hand blankly.   


“Full house of jacks and nines,” he said, spreading his hand on the table in a voice that subtly said ‘kiss my ring.’ The other guys looked at their hands and made various noises of disapproval. Isaac whistled, impressed, and pushed a stack of poker chips his way.   


“So, Lucas,” Isaac said slyly, just beneath his breath. “You wanna.. go take a break, or?”

Sam nodded and Isaac grabbed a voucher from the underside of the table, scribbling a number on it before shoving it in Sam’s hand and hauling him to his feet.

“Only one round? You guys are cheating! Get back here!”

Isaac dragged him up the stairs and onto a balcony, slamming the door behind them and locking it. “You know they definitely think we’re—“

“I know, shut up,” Isaac interrupted. “Unless you— want to?”

“What?” Sam blurted out, blushing. “No, I— you’re  _ blackmailing  _ me!”   


Isaac looked away, putting his hand on his chin pensively. “Right, sorry, gotta focus. So I know where he’s holed up, but we can’t head in right away.”

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why not?”

“Because, uh,” Isaac laughed, nervous. “I broke in there looking for him and I got a little.. caught?”

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, his security’s really tight, alright? I’m only one man,” Isaac snapped, folding his arms. “I managed to escape unscathed and he doesn’t know where I am, but that means we’ll have to wait at least a month to try to bust in there again.”   


“What makes you so sure you’re not being followed?” Sam said, leaning back against the rail. When Isaac shrugged almost defensively and mumbled something like ‘just a hunch,’ Sam sighed. “We should move around every few days for a while until we plan to break in.”

Isaac put on his best shit-eating grin. “Moving from luxury hotel to luxury hotel with a handsome stranger? Are you sure this is a job?”

Sam rolled his eyes. “I’m going to have to go back to my apartment and get some stuff.” He glanced downwards. “You have everything on you, right? We’ll probably need to leave through the fire escape.”

Isaac peered over the edge. “The.. are you sure?”

“Afraid of heights?” Sam glanced down his nose, almost scoffing.

“No,” Isaac snapped. “Just.. you realize we’re thirteen stories up, right?”

“What, do I have to carry you on my back?”

Isaac’s eyes jumped to Sam and back to the ground below them, face white as a sheet. “Good lord,” Sam said, rolling his eyes. “Just climb on.” He squatted down and Isaac blinked a few times in surprise. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around Sam’s neck and slipped his legs through Sam’s elbows. Sam straightened his back and Isaac’s grip immediately tightened, his head pressed pitifully into Sam’s back.

He walked carefully over to the fire escape and lowered his foot onto the first rung. Isaac made a noise that almost registered as a — a whimper? — and he squeezed his hand belatedly. As tentatively as he could, he put his foot on the next lowest rung, his hands resting on the ground, then on the rungs as he went lower and lower, Isaac keeping an iron grip on his neck. The wind blew their hair around as they clambered down to the ground level.

“You don’t use gel?” Sam joked, breath somewhat labored. “That’s a surprise.”

Isaac laughed nervously, holding his feet back so that they weren’t in Sam’s way. Together they moved steadily down the building, and once Sam placed both feet on the ground, Isaac scrambled down without waiting to be accommodated. He folded his arms and mumbled what might have been his thanks. Sam just hailed a cab. He had much bigger things to worry about than his blackmailer’s ego.


	4. Road Trip

Evening, Day 1

Sam narrowed his eyes. “There is no way you’re coming in my apartment.”

“What?” Isaac threw out his arms, incredulous. “Come on, we’ll be in there for, like, ten minutes!”

“And that’s why you can wait in the hall,” he replied pointedly, opening the door.   


Dexter was laying on the couch watching TV when he walked in. “Oh, uh, hey,” he said, sitting up. “David said you were on a trip, what happened?”

“It’s… a long story,” Sam said carefully.

Dexter smirked, glancing over his shoulder. “Who’s your friend?”

Sam turned around to see Isaac right behind him, grinning stupidly, and sighed. “Dexter, this is Felix. Felix, Dexter.” Isaac reached out and shook Dexter’s hand, keeping the other in his pocket. His hair, usually seeming so carefully slicked back, fell slightly in his face as he leaned forward and smiled charmingly. He was wearing regular black slacks and a white button-up shirt, all formality abandoned; his gloves, vest, and bow tie were long since removed, giving him the air of someone at a black tie event he really didn’t want to be at. He was even more attractive for it, and Dexter obviously noticed this as he gave his hand two firm shakes and moved back into his place at Sam’s side. It was written all up and down his body. This was not a businessman.

“We, um, we met at the party,” Sam said anyway.   


Dexter’s eyebrow raised. “Really?” He scoffed and turned back to his phone. “And you said nobody there was relationship material.”

“Long-term. I said long-term.” Isaac shot Sam a sidelong glance and he blushed, looking away. “Anyway, the firm is shoving me all around and the short version is, we’re working together on something pretty big that I can’t talk about just yet.”

Dexter sat up and leaned on the arm of the chair. “So you’re allowed to practice again?”

“Yeah, lord be praised, but this is a really high-profile case and all that,” he said, marveling at how easily the lies came. “We have to go all the way across the country to do some work and I don’t know how long we’ll be gone. I’m really sorry this came up so suddenly.”

“It’s fine, I know it’s a crazy job,” Dexter reassured him. “I’ll let Tucker know when he gets back.”

Sam nodded and the two of them marched off to his room. He grumbled slightly as he pulled the suitcase out from under his bed and began throwing in clothes indiscriminately. Part of it was already full - always be prepared, he liked to say, but he really was terrified of what would happen if Tucker and Dexter found out about his real job - and he didn’t care to fold or sort the new additions. “You know, I don’t like having to lie to my roommates.”  _ Shirts, socks, pants, underwear, elastics.. _

Isaac was leaning against the wall, out of his way. “What, like you don’t already?” he chided. “‘Cause it seems like your friend is convinced you’re a lawyer.” Sam glared at him and continued to wad up pairs of pants as small as he could get them.   


“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, you know,” he said irritatedly, more to himself than to Isaac.  _ Wallet, makeup, toothbrush... _

“Yeah. I know. You’re welcome.”

Sam slammed the suitcase shut and picked it up by the handle. “Perfect. Let’s just get the hell out of here.”

He respected Isaac’s wishes and  _ didn’t _ go in his apartment when asked, thank you very much.


	5. Blood and Salt

Nighttime, Day 1

The two set their suitcases down on each of two double beds, the huge floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the coast and the sun setting over the orange sand and grey ocean. The sounds of waves crashing could be just barely heard from inside the room. “I’m going to sleep,” Sam said, digging through his things for pajamas.

Isaac froze. “Already?”

Sam looked up, startled by what sounded like hurt in Isaac’s voice. “Yes, I’m very tired and I just want to lay in bed and read a book or something. Is there a problem?”

Isaac shifted on the balls of his feet. “I don’t know,” he said, like he very much did know. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to get dinner or something.”   


“We can get food brought up to the room,” he said, taking his shirt off. “Frankly, I have no desire to go anywhere tonight, and if you would like to do anything at all, be my guest, but I will be here.” Isaac’s attempt to begin making romantic gestures was forgotten as he got a first look at Sam’s muscles totally exposed. His eyes wandered down his torso, resting at his hip, where a small but unmistakable mark sat just above his left hip. It was an equilateral triangle with an X through the middle, lines matching up in perfect symmetry.

“Is that a tattoo?” he blurted out, causing Sam to panic and look down at it himself as though he had forgotten it was there.

“Uh,” he stammered, “uhh.” He ripped a sleep shirt out of the suitcase and glared at the wall, slipping it over his head while Isaac laughed.

He came around closer to him, demeanor suddenly casual again. “I’m not judging you at all, I just never took you for the type.”

Sam blushed and leaned down to slide off his shoes and pants. “I was very young,” he said softly. “And it was a stupid idea. It’s a long story.” Isaac turned back to his own suitcase and opened it. He knew he couldn’t get away with staring any longer.

Sliding on pajama pants, Sam pulled a book from his suitcase and began perusing the room service menu. He could tell Isaac wasn’t very sophisticated, but he was, for lack of a better word, stupid rich. Shrimp cocktails and fried calamari seemed a fair compromise between their tastes, and they’d have to work out a long-term plan when he wasn’t so tired.


	6. Two Lies, One Truth

Morning, Day 2

When they woke up the following morning, they lounged about the room for a fair bit of time before heading down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. They ate in relative silence, Isaac’s attempts at making idle conversation being brushed aside at every turn. Upon returning to their room, Sam began dressing for the day and Isaac perked up with an idea.   


“I have a friend around here,” he said, pulling out his cell phone and scrolling through contacts. “We should meet with her so that things don’t look shifty. You know, seem like we’re doing something here?”

Sam straightened out his shirt and folded his collar down. “That’s smart.” He brushed a hair off of his shoulder. “But first, I want to get your story straight. What is your cover, exactly? Your business card seems pretty vague.”

Isaac laughed. “Oh, yeah, that’s the idea,” he said. “It’s not entirely a lie, either. It’s a sort of freelance thing, I guess? I put together events for people and stuff.” He was sliding on a t-shirt, and all of Sam’s bitter thoughts about how stupid it was for him to eschew formality dissipated upon seeing how good he looked in casual clothes. He glanced away and focused on straightening his tie. “I get a list of stuff to get done, and I do it. I’ll call venues, food places, just take the money to get everything in one place and all that. It doesn’t pay much, but it sounds like a job.” He smiled to himself. “That’s how I met Vanessa. She’s such a sucker.”

“You shouldn’t talk about your friends like that, even fake ones.” He picked up the phone on the dresser, completely ignoring Sam, and dialed a number. A fake paper trail. Smart.   


“Hey, Vanessa!” he said cheerily. “I’m in town right now and I was wondering if you wanted to go out for lunch or something.” A pause. “Yeah, it’s a long story.” Another pause, and a casual, absolutely heart-throbbing laugh. “I’m here with a friend, and that’s also a long story.”   


A long period of silence. “Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay, great. You wanna meet up at the smokehouse on Watson and third?” Sam glanced at him sidelong and he returned with a thumbs up. “Oh yeah, she can come too. Perfect. We’ll see you in an hour.” He hung up with a click.

“Who else is coming?” Sam said, trepidatious.

Isaac waved him away. “Just someone new she’s seeing, it’ll be fine.” When Sam folded his arms in protest, Isaac put one hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “Trust me. She’s harmless. Anybody with her will be harmless.” He returned to the mirror and examined himself closely, looking for any imperfections. “I’m assuming you buffed up on law for your cover?”

“Absolutely.”

“Good, ‘cause I’m sure it’ll come up.”

* * *

An hour later, the two of them arrived at the restaurant to find Vanessa and her girlfriend sitting on one side of a booth table. Vanessa grinned broadly and waved the two of them over upon seeing Isaac.   


“Isaac!” she exclaimed, getting up from the booth to give him a hug. It was brief, but Isaac was smiling too. “It’s been too long, how’s the business?”

“Pretty alright,” Isaac replied smoothly, shoving his hands in his front pockets. “And yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t come out this far just for a job, but.. I missed you, kid.”

She beamed again and turned to Sam. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Lucas,” he said, and Sam stuck out his hand to shake. She complied without hesitation. It was a single firm shake held for just long enough, incredibly professional and practiced; the telltale sign of a businessperson. “We’re just visiting for a few days.”

Vanessa turned around and gestured at the girl in the booth, who smiled wanly and waved. “This is Emily, we’ve been together for a few months.” The three of them sat back down and browsed the menu, and Vanessa decided to jump right into the small talk.

“So, Lucas,” she said, and he looked up at her over it. “What brings you around here?”

He settled back into his role easily. “Well, I’m a lawyer, and I’m working on a really big case that requires me to do some stuff all around the country.” He nudged Isaac’s arm subtly. “I’m traveling with Isaac because it’s exhausting to do these things by oneself.”

Emily leaned forward onto the table. “Ooh, what are you investigating?”

Sam smiled knowingly. “I’m afraid that’s classified. It’s very high-profile, you see.” Emily’s eyes went even wider.

“Sorry if I’m prying,” she said, almost excitedly, “but - I’m assuming you’re in criminal law? The classified cases are always criminal - I’m a doctor and I’m just really fascinated by these things. I took a forensics and criminal law class in college and I think it’s so interesting to solve problems like that.”   


“Well, I’m not a detective,” he replied coolly, successfully masking the trouble he had keeping up with her, “but I guess it’s solving a mystery in its own way.” He stared into his glass of water. “My speculation is allowed, but the question always has a yes or no answer, and really, I have to do my job regardless of my opinion.” 

Isaac rolled his eyes, even as he smiled. “God, you’re so dramatic.” The two women laughed.

“So what would you say is the bloodiest case you’ve ever worked on? I want to get all the gory details before we actually start eating.” She was grinning from ear to ear earnestly, not malicious, but it was starting to wear even Vanessa down, who rested her hand on top of Emily’s as if to pull her back down to earth.   


Sam his his annoyance behind a grimace. “In the kindest way possible, I’m exhausted by this case and I’d prefer not to discuss my profession in my downtime.”

“Oh, we understand,” Vanessa butted in, patting Emily on the hand and intertwining their fingers. “Right?”

Emily looked away, clearly disappointed, but still perfectly chipper. “Right.” 

_ Change the subject. Change it right now before she asks more questions about murder.  _

“I, um, attended the gala for Victor Truman recently,” Sam said, disinterested. “That was pretty interesting.”

“He’s kind of a big deal,” Isaac stage-whispered. Emily laughed, but Vanessa just rolled her eyes.   


“Politics,” she scoffed. “I’m having such a hard time with the current president, I don’t even want to begin thinking about a new one.”

That got Sam’s attention. “Doyle? What about him?”

She leaned into her hand and glared into the distance. “He’s pocket vetoing something we’ve had in motion for a really long time,” she said, gesticulating with her free hand. “It’s just so infuriating. I represent the New Republic and— you knew that, right?”

Sam nodded. He did not.

“It’s not like we’re one of the most important interest groups in the country or anything,” she continued. “He’s going to make a lot of serious political enemies and screw over our economy within the next decade, and he doesn’t even have the balls to overturn the new law himself!”

The gears turned slowly in Sam’s head. “I might be able to help you with that.”

Vanessa laughed, good-natured. “You really think you can get him to finally say no?”

“Actually, I think I can get a yes out of him.”

All three of them looked up, wide-eyed. “Are y— are you serious?” Vanessa stammered quietly, while Emily slowly began smiling beside her.   


“Of course,” Sam said, collected as ever. “I’ll have to call in a few favors, but it shouldn’t be too much effort. It’s Motion B61, right?” Her eyes began to light up, as if she was trying not to get her hopes up. “I support that wholeheartedly. The president and I go way back. I’ll get it taken care of.”

Now Vanessa was smiling from ear to ear, and she clasped her hands together in lieu of an adequate way to express her excitement. “Lucas, oh my god, I.. I can’t ask you to do that.”

He smirked back at her. “I’m offering. And you have friends in politics too, don’t you? Maybe in the future, there’ll be something you can do for me.”

She was already nodding profusely. Sam felt silently smug.  _ Whatever it takes. _ She continued to thank him in as much abundance, and their food arrived shortly afterwards. The meal was eaten in exuberant joy shared by all.


	7. Expectations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit 11/6/19: put in English translations for the Spanish

Afternoon, Day 2

As they left the restaurant, walking back to their hotel room, Sam smiled to himself, feeling very satisfied. Isaac walked next to him, confusion barely contained.

“What the hell was that??” he hissed, arms waving in a way that seemed only slightly restrained to Sam, but was almost definitely a huge effort on Isaac’s part.

“I’m making friends,” he said, glancing down at him. “Is there a problem?”

Isaac sputtered. “You can’t be serious about pulling favors to get the proposition passed?”

“Of course I am.”

“Fine, then. There’s no way you really know the president.”

“Of course I do.” 

“But this is crazy!” Isaac exclaimed, almost loud enough for other people to notice. “If we start making waves, we’re going to get caught—“

Sam stopped and turned around to face him. “We’re establishing a story. In a few days we head up to the capital. That is where we went from here if anyone should ask, and anyone following our paper trail will have a logical explanation for our next move. You’re welcome.”

Isaac stared for a moment, dumbfounded, as Sam continued to walk without him.

* * *

Sam watched the moon rising over the patio and sighed. He gazed longingly at the wobbling reflection of it in the ocean. “You know, sometime, I’d love to swim at night.”

“Usually, that’s just skinny dipping,” Isaac replied, pulling a sleep shirt over his head. “But I guess we could go regular swimming at night if you want.”

Sam laughed. “No, we’d get in trouble. It’s just a fantasy of mine.”

Isaac stared at him in silence for a second. “You— you’re serious? You’re, like, in your twenties—“

“Don’t flatter me, I’m thirty-two.”

“Whatever! You’re thirty-two and one of your dreams is to swim in the ocean at night and you haven’t done it yet because of rules?? Dude, someday you’re gonna die, and you’re gonna think about how sad you are that you never got to do this!”

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed. “I...”

Isaac stomped over to his suitcase and pulled out a folded-up pair of swimming trunks. “Come on, let’s go.”

“It’s— it’s eleven PM,” Sam said, in that tone that conveyed he was just moments away from agreeing to this, but had to protest one more time for his conscience.

“Get your trunks, we’re leaving,” Isaac insisted, ignoring him. “We’ll change at the shore so it’s not suspicious. Bring a towel and we’ll act like they’re dirty or something.”

Sam smiled half-heartedly, face still pointedly defeated. “You just want to ogle me.”

“It’s way too dark for that,” Isaac said, grabbing Sam’s hand and yanking him to his feet. “Just come on!”

Just minutes later, the two of them had nonchalantly strolled through the lobby and carried their wadded-up towels with trunks safely inside across the wharf and onto the beach. Isaac was already stripping down, putting his trunks on and slowly adjusting to the water. Sam just squinted at him, lost in thought.

Here in front of him was a man he had met merely two days ago, who had audio recordings that could be used to make him lose his job and potentially his livelihood, and who was using the threat of said recordings to save his own skin, grinning stupidly as he stood now at calf-height in the completely black ocean. How did this all happen so fast? In what universe would he be okay with this?

Oh, what the hell.

He stripped down, making sure to do it while Isaac wasn’t looking, and stepped into the water. The only sound was the waves forming and crashing, and the gentle wobble of the tide against his ankles was pleasing. Isaac was already in up to his hips and he grinned over at Sam, who smiled back, briskly rubbing his arms. All he could see for miles in either direction was the shore, extending endlessly with no people, no distractions, nothing. The sand looked silver in the moonlight and now that he was in the water, he could see to the bottom where the sand shifted around and around, the glow eerie.

He took a step forward, and then another, and then another, slowly submerging himself. Isaac had moved back to shore and was sitting in the water, letting the foam splash over his legs. When Sam got up to his chest, he called out, “Hey, you know you’re not really supposed to swim here, right?”

Sam glanced back over his shoulder. “What?”

“It’s not like a pool, there’s waves and shit.” As if on cue, a wave crested and knocked Sam back about a foot. Isaac laughed. “Dude, get back here, you’re gonna drown.”

Sam frantically turned and began walking towards Isaac, which was admittedly not very fast, and he settled into place next to him, staring up at the starless sky. “Damn light pollution,” he grumbled. “This is way less romantic than I imagined.”

Isaac put on his best flirty gaze. “Romantic?”

“I—“ Sam blushed and rolled his eyes. “Romantic in a worldly sense. You knew what I meant, asshole.” Isaac stuck his tongue out, but his smile remained present. “It’s still nice, though,” Sam tacked on after a few moments, smelling the breeze. The salty air was smooth and fresh, the water felt warm against his legs, the wet sand pleasing beneath his palms. “I guess it’s been a long time since I did anything for myself.”

Isaac looked over, incredulous. “Are you kidding me? You’re rich as hell, you’re notorious in regular politics _ and _ government backrooms, your cover is great and allows you a lot of freedoms, and you’re hench as fuck, I might add.” Sam smirked at that one. “You have friends who love you and your job is awesome. You’re living the dream. How are you not constantly indulging yourself?” He put one hand on his chest exaggeratedly. “‘Cause I am, and I make way less money than you.”

“I don’t know,” Sam said after a long moment. “I guess I worry that my luck will run out someday. Like, what am I going to do if someone blackmails me and I have to go on a wild goose chase through my past?” His face was unreadable. Isaac smiled sheepishly, but Sam didn’t even look over. “I’ve been saving money for a really long time - and don’t worry, this month will only use up very little of it - but it’s distinctly possible that I’ll die and I can’t leave my friends with nothing. They depend on me and, well..” His eyes glazed over. “They’re all the family I’ve got.”

Isaac reached over and touched Sam’s hand, concern all over his face. “Lucas, I...” He fumbled with the words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t...” He didn’t seem like he even knew what he wanted to say. He looked away, almost embarrassed. “I’m starting to trust you, you know?”

Sam’s eyes went wide. “And I know I shouldn’t, but.. I like you, you’re a fun person, and something in my gut just feels right. We’re gonna kick Cyrus’s ass together, and have a really fun time doing random stuff together before we get there, and that’s so great. I’m really glad I met you.”

He continued to stare for a moment, a little caught off-guard, before returning with the bedroom eyes that Isaac was so fond of. “Well, Cyrus would tell you never to trust another agent, but... I also happen to be starting to like you.” He cleared his throat and avoided thinking about the glee on Isaac’s face. “Strangely enough.”

And so the two of them sat, watching the water ripple around them, until they tired of it and returned to their room.

Upon their arrival, Sam’s phone - his personal phone - rang from the bedside table. He picked it up and frowned at the lack of caller ID. “That’s weird,” he said, already heading for the bathroom. “Let me take this real quick.”

Once the door was safely locked, he said quietly, “Hello?”

“Sam.”

He narrowed his eyes. _Emily._ “¿Tu novio está aquí?” she continued. (Is your boyfriend here?) 

“Él no es mi novio,” (He’s not my boyfriend.) he replied, folding his arms. “¿Qué quieres?” (What do you want?) It was hardly a question.

“Sólo quiero tú saber que te conozco. Sé quién eres.” (I just want you to know that I know you. I know who you are.) She laughed to herself. “Y más importante, sé qué eres.” (And more importantly, I know what you are.) 

“Comó—“ (How—) 

“Debes hablar con el presidente,” (You should talk to the president.) she said, and it was almost a threat. “No creo quieres Isaac saber esto.” (I don’t think you want Isaac to know this.) 

“Yo voy,” (I’m going to.) Sam responded, almost weakly.

“Entonces estamos termina. Buenas noches.” (Then we’re done. Goodnight.) 

She hung up.

Sam sighed and redialed.

“The number you are attempting to call is not in service—“ Bullshit.

He tried again.

“Escucha, si quieres—“ (Listen, if you want—)

“Why do you speak Spanish?”

Emily paused and she laughed, genuinely, like it really was funny. “I know lots of things,” she replied, as though Sam were stupid. “It gets boring being this smart.”

“And I’m assuming you didn’t want anyone listening in.” She chirped her affirmation. “So can I assume you know who I worked for?”

“Of course I do.”

“Before that.”

She chuckled once. “That too.”

“And.. you know this how?”

“Again, I have a lot of hobbies,” she said casually, clearly enjoying herself. “You’re risking a lot, speaking English on these airwaves.”

“I fully intend to keep my promise. You didn’t have to blackmail me.”

“Well, I can hardly take you at your word, can I? Nothing personal, dear, just business.” She hung up again.

He returned to the main room to see Isaac sitting unsubtly in boxers and nothing else, propped up against some pillows. “What was that about?” he asked, one knee drawn up like someone who glanced one time at a porn magazine and didn’t gather much.

Sam sighed and set his phone down. “It was just Dexter. He couldn’t find the mandarin oranges.” He dug around for his own nightclothes. “But you can never be too careful.” He paused and looked up. “Um.. thank you. For tonight. I had a really good time.”

Isaac draped one arm across himself lavishly. “I know how you can thank me.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “In your dreams.”


	8. Old Friends

Morning, Day 4

On their last day, as they checked out of the hotel, Sam did a double take at a tall blonde guy standing at the service desk, presumably waiting for someone to return.   


“Oh,” Sam said, obviously caught off guard. The man looked up and his eyes went wide. “Dmitri.”   


“North,” he cut Sam off with snap, followed by something like a cough and the clearing of his throat. “Is fine. Listening ears and all that.”

Sam swallowed. “Right. How’s, um...”

“South.”

His eyebrows jumped.  _ “Really?” _

“Yeah,” North replied, laughing, rubbing the back of his neck. “She’s, um.. an interesting partner. Never really thought she had the discipline, but, y’know. We’re all full of surprises.” He stuffed his hands in his front pockets. His voice dropped almost to a whisper. “How’s the, uh, Iscariot thing going?”   


Sam started and laughed, louder than he needed to. “Oh, well, that’s.. I’m not really...” He grinned sheepishly at North. “We don’t really talk about that.”

North actually looked almost relieved. “That’s good. I didn’t wanna tell you your business or anything, but you were really mixed up with the wrong crowd.” His gaze turned to Isaac. “And you’re— don’t tell me.” He snapped his fingers a few times, then pointed exaggeratedly. “That Marcus guy from AA.”   


Sam put his hand on Isaac’s shoulder and barely stifled a laugh as he bristled indignantly. “No, this is Felix Mercury, he works for TMS.” 

North’s smile vanished. “Oh.” He looked between the two of them and pulled Sam to the side. He kept his voice low as he ducked into a corner, shooting a careful glance at Isaac. “Look, I know I said it’s a good thing you got away from the big guy, but what are you doing schmoozing around with some nobody from TMS?”

Sam brushed him off. “Don’t worry, I’m working for MOIRA now, and he’s... nice.”

“You don’t sound very sure,” North replied, one eyebrow raised. “I’d offer you a job, but things at PFL are... well, they’re not great. You know this place is bugged, right?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Sam replied, nonchalant. “Fake paper trails and what have you. We’re taking care of ourselves.”   


North took a piece of paper out of his pocket and began scribbling. “You know, I would really just feel better if I left you with the number for one of our agents. He’s only been with us for a few months, but he’s pretty reliable so far and, well, he’s close to your home base. And trusting.”   


“Uh, Lucas?”

He was scanning the paper. “One second, babe.”  _ Wait. This looks familiar. _

_ ...hang on a second.   
_

He continued to stare downwards, pretending that was intentional, and pursed his lips. Isaac was surely smiling dumbly behind him. North didn’t visibly react, so it was apparently no big deal. “I, uh.. thanks. I’ll be sure to be in touch if I need anything.” North nodded at the two of them as they wandered out.

Isaac grabbed North by the wrist and gave him a bewildered, but excited look. “What’s.. The Iscariot thing?”   


North narrowed his eyes. “Listen, man, if you don’t already know, it’s far better that you don’t ever know.” He tried to pull away, but Isaac clung tighter.   


North spared him one last glance down his nose and Isaac bit his lip. “Look, Lucas is in danger, so I really need to know.”   


North laughed and shook his head. “You’re just provin’ my point.” He yanked his arm away and it was clear the conversation was over. Isaac scampered outside and caught up with Sam, who had briskly moved far ahead already. 

“Okay, first off, who was that?” Isaac breathed excitedly, struggling to get Sam’s attention.

He refused to tear his gaze away from some fixed point in front of him, speedwalking with purpose. “Just somebody I used to work with at my.. previous employer.”   


“Okay, ominous, but whatever. Follow-up question:  _ why’d you call me babe? _ ”   


“I don’t know!” Sam blurted out, balling up his fist. “It just came out, okay! I was distracted!”

Isaac was wearing his shit-eating grin. “I believe it’s called a Freudian slip.”

“Go to hell.”   


Isaac stuck his tongue out, but Sam was glaring at the floor. “I’m just really worried about that number North gave me.”   


“Worried?”

“...I don’t know.”

On the train, he looked at the paper again and shot the number a text. 

_ How long have you and Tucker been together again? _

The reply was nigh instantaneous.

_ Only about four months, why?   
_

Sam sighed.  _ Just couldn’t remember if I would need to make something for your anniversary soon. _

_ Aw, you’re too sweet. _


	9. Neighbors

Evening, Day 4

There was a knock on the door. The four of them all looked up, cuddling with their respective partner, and Tucker untangled himself from David, much to the latter’s dismay. “I’ll be right back,” he teased, before turning the doorknob and peeking through the crack.   


“Oh, hey!” Tucker said, opening the door wider, beckoning the two to enter. A very tall, cheery-looking man walked in holding the smaller man by the arm, who looked like he had definitely been dragged here by the former. Wash balked at him. He looked... way too familiar for comfort. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Thank you for having us!” the tall one chirped. “I’m Michael and this is my boyfriend, Leonard.” He squeezed Leonard’s elbow, who grumbled a greeting. “We live down the hall and it just occurred to me that we’ve never actually talked to each other, so, ah, here we are!” His eyes wandered to the three on the couch and he turned back to Tucker. “Oh, I’m sorry if you’re in the middle of something.”   


“No, it’s fine,” Tucker assured him, holding up one hand. “I’m Tucker and that’s Dexter, and Rich and David, they— they basically live here too.”   


Rich waved sleepily and David continued to stare at Leonard, who either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care, when he realized—

“I’ll, uh, be right back.” He marched to his bedroom as fast as he could without drawing suspicion and whipped out his phone. He sat down on the bed and dialed the number quickly, fingers dancing.   


“North, we’ve got a situation.” He was hunched over, leaning on his knees. shooting nervous glances at the door. “Alpha is here.”

“The  _ Alpha?” _

“Him and his boyfriend just moved in next to us.” Wash cupped his hand around the receiver. “Does he know he’s Dr. Church’s son?” North’s silence was palpable. “Does he— does he know who we are..?”

“No,” North finally said. “He doesn’t know the identities of us or any of the protection agents.”   


Wash stood up, barely restrained. “Well, clearly they’re not doing their jobs!!”   


“Will you calm down? He doesn’t know his own role in all of this, and that’s the point.” Wash plopped back down on the bed and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I can send a protection agent your way if you think he’s going to cause problems.”

Wash swallowed. “No, that wouldn’t fly with the guys, and really, if he doesn’t know who I am and doesn’t find out, it should be fine. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

“Yeah, alright. I’ll make sure this makes it into the database. Thanks.”

The line went dead and Wash sighed.


	10. Double Take

Early Morning, Day 5

David opened the door to the coffee shop, mind racing, so lost in thought that he jumped when a familiar figure entered his field of view holding a cup in his hand. The door slammed shut behind him as he backed up against it, adrenaline beginning to rush. “Oh, Leonard, uh, what a crazy surprise,” he stuttered, forcing himself to smile and stand up straight. “Sorry, I’m just-- I’m a little jumpy today and I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

Leonard laughed amicably. “Heh, that’s alright. Most people don’t really call me Leonard, though? Leon is fine.”   


David swallowed. “Oh.” He took a few steps closer and shot a quick glance at the menu. “It’s just that Michael introduced you that way, I’m sorry.”

“He does that,” Leon said after a moment, shrugging. “I think he likes it better.”

He sat down at a table and they made small talk while David stood, waiting for his coffee, and sat down with him once it arrived. “So listen, um,” Leon said, looking around and leaning forward. “I know who you are, and I know why you’re here.” David’s eyes went wide and he slowly snaked his hand towards his back pocket. Leon smiled gently. If he noticed, it didn’t show. “And I know what you found.”   


He froze at that. “You’re pretty sloppy, huh?” Leon went on, grinning, not at all perturbed. “You should count yourself lucky you’ve got us watching your back. Trust me, he doesn’t know.” He stood up with his coffee and pulled something out of his pocket. “And, uh, I’d stop keeping this in your wallet if I were you.” David snatched it out of his hand and scanned it. His PFL identification card.   


He stuffed the card in his pocket, face flushed, as he stared up at Leon. He was walking to the door and looked around to make sure no one else was in the building. “And just so you know, my name actually is Leon. Leonard would be my brother. And he doesn’t go by that either.” He winked and sauntered out.

Balking, David pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed a number quickly, taking a sip of the still-too-hot coffee and tapping his foot nervously. “Hey Connie, I need you to run an address for me real quick.”

“Uh, sure, one sec.” The sound of footsteps and then the rapid-fire clicking of a keyboard. “Okay, shoot.”

He craned his neck to glance out the window. “1587 Ventana Place.”

She clicked her tongue a few times and typed a little more. “As far as this shows, it’s never been a front for the federal or world government, but I can’t tell whether or not it’s bugged. You’re just gonna have to be careful.”

“Perfect. Thank you. Can you put me through to North?”

“Uh,” Connie paused for a moment. “He’s not here. He’s on a job.”

David groaned. “Then can you get me to Florida?”

“I sure can,” she replied, her fingers dancing gently over the phone’s buttons. “What’s this about?”

“What clearance level are you again?”

“Level three.”

“Then that’s classified.”

He could hear her rolling her eyes. “Alright, good luck out there, nerd.”

A dial tone hummed for a few seconds before a line was picked up. “Hello?”

David sat up in his chair, fingers drumming on the table, legs stretched out beneath it. “Hey, it’s me. I need to confirm some information I just found in the field?”

“Well, hey there, Wash!” Florida chirped. “Do you need me to open the database? I’m not at my desk, but I could be there in a jiffy.”

“No, you should be able to just answer off the top of your head. Did North tell you about how the alpha moved in next to my boyfriend’s apartment?”

Florida frowned. “Well, sure. Is something wrong? Was anyone compromised?”

“...I don’t know yet,” David conceded. “That.. kinda depends on how you answer this next question.” He chuckled to himself. “Man, this sounds stupid. Is one of our protection agents… Alpha’s twin brother?”

There was dead silence for a moment. Florida sighed. “Yes. Codenamed Epsilon. Alpha doesn’t know that either one of them are involved with PFL, and none of the other field agents know that Epsilon exists. Please don’t tell anyone.” He was obviously keeping his voice low, somewhat nervous. “If Dr. Church finds out that you went looking--”

“I didn’t!” David yelped, and then lowered his voice to a hiss, scanning behind the counter for any movement. “I didn’t. We bumped into each other this morning, I thought he was Alpha, and we just kind of… I don’t know.”

Florida pursed his lips. “Okay, well, as long as we keep the whole Leo and Leon thing on the DL, you should be fine. Good luck out there.” He hung up and David inhaled and exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair. It was still in the ungodly hours of the morning and David was already discovering things about his agency that he didn’t and definitely shouldn’t know. He’d only been looking into activity around here for a few months and the past couple of days had already turned up way more than he had in his entire career. Mostly about his own agency and other agents to boot.   


Ever since Connie took herself out of the field and resigned to work around the headquarters and stick around for emergencies, he had a growing suspicion that things weren’t exactly as they seemed, but the idea that maybe the real evil was not in the things he was investigating, but his own agency was a terrifying prospect. 

He was snapped out of his reverie by a small noise that meant he received an email.  _ You’re gonna wanna take a look at this. Can’t send a PDF, obviously, but I’m pretty sure this is relevant to your investigation. _ It was a blurry photo of a dossier, emblazoned with a triangle crossed out by an X, and the words “Project Hunter/Gatherer.”


	11. Old Habits

Morning, Day 5

The intercom in Donald Doyle’s office buzzed. “Sir, a man named Lucas is here to see you.”

He barely looked up from the papers he was shuffling. “Lucas Brown or Lucas Cummings?” His response came out almost automatically, the same way so much of his speech had become as a politician.   


The secretary spoke for a moment with her hand over the receiver. “Lucas Steele, sir.” His heart dropped. He inhaled and exhaled sharply, straightening his papers and setting them down.

“Of course. Let him in.”

The door opened and Sam entered, wearing a tidy suit with his hair pulled back. “Mister President.”

Doyle scoffed exaggeratedly, smiling. “There’s no need for such formalities. I just head the Legislative Council. It’s not as though the whole country is under my power.” Sam had already sat down, looking out the window behind Doyle at the view of the garden. “Just Donald is fine.”

Sam smirked, looking down his nose with hooded eyes. “I could call you Donnie, for old times’ sake.”

Doyle shrugged his shoulders up defensively and brushed his hair back behind his ear. “You always were a charmer,” he laughed, tomato red. “I’m assuming that you surprised me in my office for business reasons..?”

Sam’s smile disappeared and suddenly he was professional, back straight and hands folded in his lap. “Yes, actually. I have something pretty big to ask of you.” He inhaled and exhaled deeply. “I need you to approve Motion B61.” Doyle tensed, frowning. Sam shrugged in response.

“Let’s just say I’m doing a favor for a friend.”

Doyle opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Sam went on. “You’ve had that one in your pocket for a while, huh? I’m assuming you only have a few days left to approve it.” His jaw worked for a minute and Sam smirked. “It’s a little too easy with you.”

“You have to know what’ll happen if I approve that,” he whined belatedly. “I can’t make a decision like that on my own, it won’t hold up in the cabinet. It’s too late.” 

Sam had already stood and begun examining Doyle’s knick-knacks on a shelf nearby. “Well, if you had disapproved the bill yourself, we wouldn’t be in this position.”

“I had to make an appeal to the New R—“

“Make an appeal to them this way,” Sam interrupted. “You could use to be a little more neutral.” While Doyle stammered, Sam stretched up his arms behind his head and his shirt lifted above his hips, letting his tattoo peek out just long enough for Doyle to see. “God only knows our friends would like that from you. Eh?”   


Doyle stared, dumbfounded, and swallowed. “Fine,” he said at last. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Sam smiled and wandered over to the desk, shaking Doyle’s hand firmly once. “I knew you’d come to your senses.” He smiled charmingly, and Doyle’s heart skipped a few beats, but for a different reason. “I can owe you one. Give me a call sometime, yeah?”

Doyle nodded and Sam left the office before he could say anything more. 

Isaac, who had been staring into space, came to as Sam entered the lobby and motioned for them to leave. “Did he agree to it?” Isaac asked once they were in the foyer.

“Of course.”

“Seriously?!” Isaac was grinning from ear to ear. “Who’d you have to suck off for that one??”

“Doyle, actually,” Sam replied flatly, hailing a cab. “I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m incredible at seducing men. I had his pants off within seconds.” Isaac couldn’t stifle a laugh at that and Sam finally cracked. “But seriously, we’re just old friends. I knew he’d see things my way.”

“So we can just bum around the city for a few days?”

“If nothing goes wrong, of course.”


	12. Choosing Sides

Evening, Day 6

On the other side of the country, David was frantically scouring his sources and finding nothing useful. He couldn’t turn up anything about the symbol, the name of the project, or find anyone involved. Any information in databases was far too highly encrypted.   


He took to staring at the image in his free time, burning holes in his retinas for hours at his desk, fingers buried in his hair, teeth gritted. Was this grainy picture really all that was left of whatever this was? How did Connie find it? Was it meant to be a challenge?

North walked in on him one day as their shift was ending, a cup of coffee in one hand. “You okay, buddy? You’ve been—“ He trailed off when he looked at David’s computer, eyes going wide.

David sighed and buried his face in his hands. “Hi, yeah, sorry, Connie gave me a lead that I can’t find anything else on and it’s really frustrating me.”

“Connie sent you this?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Alright, perfect. Look here.”   


David swung his head around just in time to see North pulling something out of his pocket that flashed brightly and the daze set in quickly. North reached over and deleted the image, setting the coffee down on the desk. “You’ve been working too hard, Wash, you gotta take care of yourself. Why don’t you go home and take tomorrow off?”

David stared into the cup of coffee, then looked quizzically up at North, who patted him on the shoulder and smiled. “Go on. I’ll cover for you.”   


He walked briskly away, leaving David with his coffee, marching down corridor after corridor without so much as a passing glance at anything other than his goal. Upon reaching the door, he knocked and cracked it a bit. “Dr. Church?”

“Agent North, you know you can go home now.”   


“With all due respect, this is sorta urgent.”

The doctor sighed. “Come in.”

North entered and closed the door behind him, taking more care than necessary to ensure that it shut quietly — inconspicuously. “Sorry to bother you so late, I just confirmed something that I’ve been looking into for a long time that I think you need to know about.”

Dr. Church glanced up over his glasses. “Oh?”

“Connie—“ North sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “She’s digging around where she shouldn’t, again, and she showed Wash something this time.”

He was silent for a long moment. “What did he see?”

“Something about Project Hunter/Gatherer.” When the doctor opened his mouth to speak, North interrupted, “I already deleted the image and wiped his memories. We’re safe. I just figured you should know, and do.. whatever it is you do when this happens.”

“North, I’m going to tell you something, and I expect that it won’t leave this room,” Dr. Church said matter-of-factly, finally looking North in the eyes.

He blinked a few times. “I— of course, sir, what is it?”

“This has never happened before, and frankly, I don’t know what the consequences of this little transgression will be, both for Agent Connecticut and the world as a whole.”

* * *

Connie grabbed David by the shoulders as he staggered down the hallway, cup of coffee in one hand and unfocused gaze on the floor. “Wash,” she all but snapped. “It’s me.”

He looked up at her blearily, mouth agape. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and showed him an image of a dossier with a symbol and a name emblazoned across the front. “Have you seen this before?”

“No,” he slurred after a thoughtful moment. “God, why am I so tired?”

Connie frowned. “North said you have the day off tomorrow, right?”   


“Yeah, how did you—“

“Awesome,” he said, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him down the hall. “You’re not coming in anyways. We have a lot to talk about.”   


He dug his heels in feebly. “Hang on, you— there’s absolutely no way you’re high enough clear—“

“This is clearance level god damn infinity, Wash!” she stage-whispered, whipping around. “This is way bigger than us! North erased your memories ‘cause there’s stuff the doctor doesn’t want you to know. And I wasn’t going to tell you everything originally, but you...”

She looked into his eyes, still a bit dazed and bewildered, but curious and a little scared. She squeezed his wrist. “You deserve to know.”


	13. Counter-Espionage

Afternoon, Day 7

David opened the door to find exactly who he expected, staring intensely, her jaw set. She jerked her head and he scrambled inside, closing the door behind him. “Thank you for doing all this so quickly,” he said, locking the deadbolt. “It’s not safe to meet at my place.”

“Of course,” she responded. “How much did Connie tell you?”

David exhaled, long and pensive. “A lot,” he said at last. “But certainly not everything.”   


“Well, I get way less heat from the doctor about shit like this for whatever reason, so I’ll fill you in on the details.” She was going around the room and picking through boxes of folders. David coughed.   


“So, um. Does he know you and his son are together?” She froze for a moment. “The— the doctor.”   


“I knew who you meant,” she interrupted. “I can’t tell, but if he does, he’s not treating me any different.”   


He drummed his fingers on the back of her couch. “So, Tex—“

“We can do real names here.”

“Allison. What is this really about?”

She seemed to find what she was looking for and plucked it from its container, returning to the chair across from David. “It’s about your little friend, actually. You started seeing that guy just to find out more about him, right?”   


“What— that’s— no!” David squinted. “And while we’re on the subject, isn’t it a conflict of interest for you to be dating another agent?”

Allison smirked. “Okay, first of all, he’s a protection agent, so it’s not against the rules,” she said, crossing her legs. “And second, what is he gonna do? Give me more information on his brother? We know everything there is to know about him, we just gotta watch his back.”   


David grunted and glared at the wall. “Besides,” she went on. “It’s the guys he’s been hanging out recently with that are really interesting.”

“You’re talking about Lucas, right?”

Allison laughed. “Is that what he’s going by these days?”   


David blinked a few times. “I’m.. sorry?”

Allison set a folder on the table and slid it across to David, who flinched like he was worried it was going to bite him. “Are you at all familiar with ACE?” she asked.

“I feel like I should be,” David replied after a moment, squinting.   


“Uh, Tungsten and his lot.”

“Oh, oh yeah.”

“That’s where Lucas works.” Allison rolled her eyes. “Or at least he used to. He’s with MOIRA now, of course. Nice, inconspicuous, and totally beneath him.”   


David blinked several times. “He used to work— he what?” 

“Did you seriously believe him when he told you his name?” Allison went on, completely ignoring him. “How have you never heard of the magnificent Agent Steele?” She said this last part laced with sarcastic grandeur.

David’s heart sank. Fuck. Of  _ course.   
_

“Anyway, he used to work with Cyrus Cobalt, which is very interesting for us.”

David’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “Oh, come on, don’t tell me you thought he wasn’t real.” Allison folded her arms.

“So as long as we’re— dispelling rumors,” David sputtered into speech, “is that— that thing about Lucas being able to turn invisible, that’s not true, is it?”

Allison pursed her lips. “To the best of our knowledge.” She gave the dossier another shove, and David opened it tentatively. “More to the point, his real name is Samuel Ortez, and I think you’ll find some extremely fascinating details in there.”

David opened the folder and his jaw dropped.

_ Project Hunter/Gatherer.   
_

“There are dozens of higher-ups who’d shoot you for what’s in your hand.” His eyes flashed up to meet hers. “Ours included.”

David exhaled shakily. “You can’t honestly expect me to want to read this after saying that.”

“But you do, don’t you?”


	14. Bad Memory

Nighttime, Day 7

“Are you familiar with the name ‘Iscariot’?”

Isaac frowned, looking up from his phone. “You mean Icarus?”

Sam laughed. “No, I meant Iscariot.” He dug around in the drawer and after only a moment located the hotel room’s Bible. “It’s Judas’s last name. No shame in getting those mixed up. I suppose the symbolism is a bit similar.”   


“Why do you ask?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, furrowing his eyebrows. “I guess something made me think of it.” He laughed a little bit, clasping his hands together. “I—I was trying to write a book for a while there, and the two main characters, those were their last names, and I guess it always kind of stuck with me?”

Isaac almost laughed. “You were writing a book?”

Sam sat up straighter, pushing Isaac’s leg away gently. “Oh, it was never any good,” he said. “Seriously,” he added in response to Isaac’s incredulous expression. “It was never going to go anywhere and I don’t even know what I intended to do once I finished it.”

“Uh, publish it and become incredibly rich and famous, because I’m assuming you’re as good at that as everything else?” Isaac all but shouted in one breath.   


Sam rolled his eyes. “That sounds like arguably the most ideal way to blow my cover. I’ll keep that one in mind for when I decide to end my career with prison time.”   


Isaac pursed his lips and bugged his eyes, making Sam laugh.   


“Why does that sound familiar though?”

Sam shrugged. “You said yourself that it sounds like ‘Icarus.’” 

“Oh, by the way,” Isaac started. “I got this long-ass voicemail from Vanessa thanking you for talking to Doyle. So, whatever you did, I guess it was good?”

Sam smiled. “That’s good to hear. I was starting to get worried.”

“So is something up, or are you just in a particularly broody mood?”

“Hm?” Sam looked up, seeming to have been lost in thought even for the mere seconds it took Isaac to speak. “Oh, uh, sorry. I guess I’m just a little... distractible.”   


Isaac leaned closer. “You thinkin’ about anything in particular?”

“Alright, look,” Sam said suddenly, turning to him. “This is not a pretty color on you. I have given you my answer, it is no, and if that answer changes, it will be because I changed my mind, and not because I gave in to your flirtations. As it stands, we are work partners because of some incredibly heinous actions on your part, and using that as a segue to get closer to me is only further proving that I shouldn’t trust you.” Isaac had withdrawn, eyes wide, but more surprised than enraged. “Do I make myself clear?”

Isaac nodded and placed his hands in his lap. “Lucas, I didn’t— I’m treating you how I would treat anyone else I was interested in.” Sam opened his mouth to speak and Isaac interrupted, “And I know you’re not anyone else, and this situation I’ve put you in is unfair, and I recognize that now. I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t fix it, but I am.”   


Sam nodded once and returned to his bed, flopping down and facing the wall. “Is there anything I can do to help make it better?” Isaac called after him tentatively.

“You can cover everything at the third hotel,” Sam yelled back, monotone but clearly joking. Regardless, Isaac checked his bank account and made a reminder to get a room tomorrow morning before Sam got the chance.


	15. Preparations

Morning, Day 8

“Got any plans for today?” Isaac said, emerging from the bathroom with damp hair.

Sam frowned at the array of papers he’d scattered across the bed while Isaac was in the shower. “I think I’m going to stay in and try to come up with a few concrete ideas for breaking into ACE. It’ll… it’ll make me feel better to know that we have more than one plan if something goes wrong.”

“That’s a good idea,” he said, slipping on a jacket. “Is it alright with you if I go out for the day? I just haven’t been in the area in so long and it’s gonna be really nice out and--”

“You don’t have to make excuses to me,” Sam interrupted, a tiny smile on his face. “Go. Have fun. I’ll text you if I need anything.”

Isaac exhaled shakily, not having expected to get what he wanted so easily, and grinned. “Alright. Thanks, Lucas. I’ll see you tonight.” He walked out the door and took the elevator down, chest full with pride - it was just a _ little _ smile, but it was still there - and was so lost in thought that he didn’t even lash out when four hands latched onto him and tossed him into the back of a van.

“Guys, this feels wrong,” a muffled voice said from the front.

“He-hey!” Isaac screamed, finally processing what was happening to him. “What’s going on?!”

“Shut up, this is fine,” a woman’s voice replied, and a third woman clambered in the front and banged on the wall between them.

“Calm down back there, will you?” she snapped, and then the trio in the front was silent.

Isaac weighed his options from context. If these people were willing and able to kidnap him in broad daylight, then it meant one of two things; one, they weren’t worried about getting caught because they were inexperienced, or two, they weren’t worried about getting caught because they have enough influence in the area to make sure nobody was looking.

He scanned a mental list of organizations that had that kind of sway, and almost no secret agent corporations he could think of offered anything useful. But they weren’t driving long - perhaps only half an hour - when one of the women came to the back and deftly wrapped a tie around Isaac’s eyes, dragging him out of the back of the van by it and into an apartment. She tied his wrists to the arms of the chair with a swiftness that even Isaac couldn’t lay claim to, and when they finally took the blindfold off, he was so confused that he wasn’t even trying to fight.

The two women glared down at him with folded arms, and the man stood a ways behind them looking worried. “Alright, we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way,” one of them said, the one with brown hair. Isaac could barely hold back the roll of his eyes. “You’re going to talk, and we’re going to listen, and nobody’s going to get hurt.”

“I really don’t feel like this is right,” the man said, taking a tentative step forward. “There has to be another way for us to--”

“Shut up, Wash,” the brunette snapped, and the blonde put her hand on her shoulder, giving her a stern glare. “We know what we’re doing,” she added, more politely.

Isaac narrowed his eyes. “Oh, you’re with PFL? That explains a lot.”

They all glanced up, doing their best impressions of deer in the headlights, and a wave of realization washed over the man. “I-Isaac?” he stammered.

“Are we on a first-name basis here?” Isaac snarked, grinning stupidly. “I’m flattered, I hadn’t realized we were best buds already. Anybody else wanna introduce themselves?”

The blonde glared at the man. “What the hell? You know this guy?”

“How, of all the random names on that list, did we manage that?” The brunette chimed in.

Isaac, completely unperturbed, was having the time of his life. “When you’ve got a second, I’m actually also curious as to why you know my name. That information free now or something?”

The man pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is great. This is just great.” He turned around and began pacing, throwing his hands up in the air. “We’re gonna die. That’s it. That’s the end of it. We’re gonna get killed. The doctor’s gonna find out about this, and there’s nothing we can do to fix it, and—”

“Will you get a hold of yourself?” the brunette snapped.

“North told the doctor that you showed me stuff about the Hunter/Gatherer shit!” the man yelled right back, and all the color quickly drained from her face. “He knows that you’re poking around, and that you’re dragging me into it, and if he sees us doing anything sketchy at all he’s gonna have us murdered!”

“Hey hey hey wait,” Isaac blurted out, glad that for _ once _in his talkative, nonchalant life that he had paid attention. “You’re having problems with North? I know a North. I met him, him and Lucas are friends. I know about the thing.” His eyes were wide and he was nodding profusely. “The thing with Lucas. I can help you.”

The blonde groaned and put her face in her hands. “This is the last thing we need.”

“Shut up,” the man said and turned back to Isaac. “Do you really think you could get us out of this?”

“Uh-huh, definitely,” Isaac replied, the words out of his mouth before he could even think about them. “Lucas and I are kind of in the middle of our own little thing right now, and I can’t tell you about it ‘cause I like having a job and being alive and all that, but I don’t think he’s gonna do you any harm—”

“It’s not him we’re worried about,” the blonde interrupted. “It’s his former employer.”

Isaac could barely stop the things he was saying. “Yeah, I know about all that, I can keep North off your backs about it.”

“And we already have a cover,” the man said, gesticulating as though the cover was somewhere in the air and he needed to feel it in his palms to be sure. “We’ll tell him that we just met and that you’re… looking for work.”

Isaac narrowed his eyes. “Why is it that you know who I am again?”

“See, about that,” the man chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m.. Tucker’s boyfriend.”

“Oooohhhhhh,” Isaac said, eyebrows jumping. “...ohhh.”


	16. Aimless

Evening, Day 8

Isaac meandered into the hotel room a little before seven to find Sam in the exact same spot as he had been before, a few empty cardboard cups sitting on the bedside table. He glanced up and Isaac gave him a weak smile, sitting down in one of the chairs. “Hey, did you have fun?” Sam said, closing the lid of his suitcase to see him better.

“Yeah,” Isaac sighed. “I think I overdid it a little bit.”

Sam laughed good-naturedly and said, “Well, there’s coffee if you want some, and I was thinking maybe we could grab dinner somewhere together.”

Isaac’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Sam said, scoffing and pretending he didn’t find it adorable. “I’m getting just a little tired of eating hotel food on the same bed where I sleep. It’d be nice to go somewhere for food that wasn’t about a farce or a paper trail or whatever. I just want to do something nice.”

The young, romantic idiot in Isaac wanted to leap over and kiss him on the mouth, could only imagine how soft and gentle those lips were, could only hope that he’d kiss him back and they’d lean back on the bed and—

“That sounds great,” he all but shouted instead. “I’ll, uh, find someplace.” 

He did, and they walked there in the pink-red glow of the sunset, and they talked and laughed. Isaac offered to buy a nice expensive brandy, only to be reminded that Sam didn’t drink, and deigned to restrain himself for the night.   


“So, uh,” Isaac coughed awkwardly once the conversation had fallen into a lull. “I’ve been thinking about.. transferring to PFL.”

Sam’s smile disappeared. “What?”

“Or, just doing some side work with them, I don’t know,” he said, pushing his food around with his fork.

_The easiest thing to do would be to tell the doctor we want you as a protection agent, _Tex had said. _He’s been looking for one anyway._ _It should give you access to our facilities and you can steer suspicion away from us with North. _Juggling lies was one of Isaac’s specialties, but something about the way Sam was looking at him made him particularly antsy.

He rolled his eyes and put on his signature smirk. “Oh come on, Lucas, it’s just a side gig. I got in touch with that number North gave you and he said they’ve been looking for some extra help, and I thought maybe…” Sam’s expression grew more and more incredulous as he spoke. He swallowed and said sheepishly, “I just thought it’d help with paying for all of this.”

Sam shook his head and took the napkin off his lap. “The pressure is getting to your head. We have to move out, now.”

“What? No!” Isaac nearly shrieked, causing a few glares to shoot their way. He turned tomato red and leaned forward. “Look, I just need you to trust me, okay? I think they might have some more information about the place and I need to find out whatever I can,” he hissed. Sam’s eyebrows raised in understanding and he nodded slowly.

“Okay,” he said at last. “I don’t like this, but I trust you. Can we get back to having a nice dinner now, please?”

* * *

Sam tapped the edge of his phone nervously, running a hand through his hair. Every second, he feared that the water running in the background would go quiet unexpectedly. Suddenly, somebody was there.

“Hello?”

“Hey, David, it’s me.”

“I— S— Lucas?” David stammered. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I just,” Sam took a long breath in and out. “This sounds kind of silly now that I say it out loud. I was hoping for some… romantic advice?”

There were several seconds of silence at this. “What?”

Sam laughed. “Yeah, it’s, um. It’s weird. You know Isaac, right? He said you two talked recently.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah, well, he’s always flirting with me, and I don’t know how I feel about it.”

David groaned slightly. “Look, I know his type. You just gotta really clearly tell him no—”

“I kind of don’t want to,” Sam breathed. “Is the thing.”   


More silence. “I mean, yeah, he’s kind of an asshole,” Sam said, leaning his face into his hand. “And it’s really annoying how he’s always making innuendos. But when he isn’t, it’s like, there’s this whole other side of him. This sort of vulnerability comes out, like the flirting is just a joke, but he really wishes I would take it seriously. Does that make any sense?”

David stumbled over words for a moment. “I-I’m really not sure if I’m the best person to talk to about this.”

“I just— sorry. I just wanted to know what you would do in my shoes. Tucker and Dexter are great, but they’re kind of…”

“Smarmy?”

“Smarmy works. And, y’know, they’d make fun of me. So I just thought I’d ask.”

It was quiet for a few seconds while David thought about this. “Lucas, if you really think it’d be worth it to unearth that vulnerable side of him, then you just gotta go for it. The worst that could happen is it doesn’t work out.”

Sam bit his lip and thought about Isaac dying in ACE headquarters, cradling him in his arms as he took his last breaths, said the last things he would ever say, and tried not to feel strangely honored about the possibility. “Right. You’re right. Thanks.”

“No problem.”


	17. Backwards Compatibility

Morning, Day 9

Dr. Church glanced up over the rim of his glasses. “Felix Mercury?”

Isaac beamed. “Yes, sir.”

“And you found out about this how?”   


“Oh, you know, it was a friend-of-a-friend sort of thing,” he said casually, hoping he didn’t sound nervous. “I know somebody who knows Agent North Dakota, and I’m, um. Looking for work.”   


When the doctor raised an eyebrow, Isaac leaned forward and said under his breath, “Look, between you and me, things are starting to get kinda.. unstable at TMS, the work’s running out, the money’s running out, and I need a place to run to when it all falls apart.” It wasn’t  _ entirely  _ a lie.

_ Won’t matter who you’re working for when you’re  _ _ dead, _ _ Gates.   
_

Isaac told his internal voice to shut it.

“So you haven’t quit your job yet?” Dr. Church stated plainly. His tone was impossible to read.

Isaac grinned sheepishly. “Well, that’s the thing,” he started. “Um. I know I’m kind of asking you to take a leap of faith here. But North and Wash said they’d vouch for me, and I really need your help.”

A few terse moments passed before the doctor finally sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay. I’ll give you a chance.” Isaac’s face lit up. “But if you slip up—”

“Thank you so much,” Isaac interrupted, standing up and shaking his hand. “I promise you won’t regret it.”

He left the office and closed the door behind him. Dr. Church sighed again and picked up the phone on his desk.   


“North, could you do me a favor and let me know if Felix gets up to anything weird?”

“Sure thing, boss.”   


He turned around and saw Isaac perusing binders on past missions curiously.   


He pursed his lips. “I’m gonna have to call you back.”

North marched over to the bookshelf and planted one arm on the wall, his cold intimidation well-practiced. Isaac looked up, his face all deer in the headlights. ‘Flustered dumbass’ was not a role he had ever played, but he was sure he could twist his charm into the part.

North momentarily floundered under his scrutiny, something almost — adorable about it? — but he steeled himself. “You’re new here, aren’t you?” he began coldly.

Isaac beamed, eyes aglow. “Actually, we’ve met once before.” He held his hand out to shake. “I’m Lucas’s—” Shit. Lucas’s what? Blackmailer? Love interest? Inconvenience? He stammered for a second. “—friend.”

North shook his hand and squinted, giving him a once-over. “I’m sorry, are you two.. not together anymore?”

“No, uh,” Isaac said carefully, rubbing the back of his neck, “yeah, that’s.. pretty recent. We broke up not too long ago.”

“That’s too bad, I’m sorry,” North said sincerely, belatedly remembering why he was here. He cleared his throat. “Um. I was supposed to come tell you that you’re not high enough clearance level to be looking at those.”   


Isaac jumped a little, whipping around to look at the shelf before turning back to North. “Shit, I’m so sorry! Am I in trouble?!”   


North had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to keep from outwardly expressing how cute this man was. “No, no, you’re fine,” he laughed amicably, pushing Isaac away from the shelf gently. “First offense and all that.” Their eyes met again and North couldn’t get over the doey look on Isaac’s face, the angular curve of his cheekbones—

“So listen,” North began, somewhat awkwardly. “Are you.. doing anything later?”

Isaac screamed on the inside. “Nope.”


	18. Potentia

Nighttime, Day 14

“I’m telling you, we need to move in right now,” Sam said, worrying a strand of hair between his thumb and forefinger.

At that moment, Isaac’s phone rang and he bit his lip. “I’m so sorry, I have to take this.” He picked it up and grinned. “Hey babe!”

Every vein in Sam’s body filled with ice. He went stock still and dared to glance up at Isaac, sitting on the other bed. “Can it wait? I’m kind of in the middle of something.” A pause. “Uh-huh.” A longer pause. “Oh, really? That’s great! Can I meet you.. in a couple of hours?” He scribbled something on a nearby sheet of paper. “Okay, cool! Alright, bye.” A sudden silence, where Isaac blushed and looked anywhere but at Sam. “Babe, I— I’m with friends…” He coughed and said quickly, “Okay, really, I’ve got to go, bye.” He hung up and mentally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Who was that?” Sam asked tersely, hoping the venom in his voice wasn’t too obvious.   


Isaac swallowed and grinned as calmly as he could. “Just, uh. Someone I’ve been seeing. It’s not serious or anything,” he added hurriedly as he noticed the crease in his eyebrows. “I don’t think it’s gonna put us in jeopardy.”

Sam squinted. “Who on earth have you managed to start dating in the last two weeks?”

“Well, um, that’s actually a funny story,” Isaac said, vehemently pretending that he had something very urgent to do on his phone. “We met at, uh, PFL.” Sam’s mouth dried. “Because he, um, works there.” Isaac laughed nervously, but it came out so dumbly that he nearly cringed. “It’s funny, when we ran into each other at the hotel—”

“Oh my god, you’re seeing  _ North?”  _ Sam blurted out, the look on his face equal parts incredulous and furious. Isaac didn’t know whether to feel scared or relieved — he’s  _ jealous,  _ he was getting  _ jealous about this  _ — but he still couldn’t tell him the truth. “I mean, that’s— that’s so good for you, I’m glad you’re with someone.”

“We’re not really together,” Isaac interrupted.  _ Why does it matter what he thinks? Why do I care?  _ “We’re just, um. Sleeping together.”

Sam ground his teeth together subtly. “Oh, that’s… cool. Have fun with that.” He stood up and shoved his hands in his front pockets. “I’m, uh, going to go get some air.” He marched out onto the balcony and closed the door behind him, dialing David’s number before he could even process the action.

“Hey David, it’s me. Can I.. update you on the whole Isaac situation?”

“Huh?”

“Just, the stuff between him and I.”

“O-oh! That’s what you— yeah, sure.”

Sam sighed and leaned against the railing. “It’s just, okay, so he’s seeing a, a secret agent, right? And—”

_ “Excuse me?”  _ Wash exclaimed a little louder than necessary.

“I know, it’s so weird, he says they’re just sleeping together, but I don’t know,” Sam went on, oblivious. “It’s just that I shouldn’t be jealous. You know? We were never even together, I have no idea what my problem is, but I—I’m  _ so  _ jealous. He started talking about it and I just got this, like, cold Coke down my back—”

“I’m so sorry, can I call you back? I have another call and I think it’s important.”

“Oh.” Sam blinked. “Uh, yeah, sure.”

David switched calls quickly. “Hey, what the  _ fuck  _ are you doing fooling around with North?!”

“You told me to find a way to get him to give me the completed file!” Isaac shrieked defensively in surprise. He was cocooned in the bathtub, or Sam surely would have heard.

“And you decided to  _ seduce him?”   
_

“Yes!” Isaac snapped back, drawing his knees closer to his body. “Is that a problem?”

David stammered for a moment. “Dude, Lucas thinks you’re spurning him. How could you do that?”

Isaac groaned. “I know,” he said pathetically. “I’m in way too deep to back out now. We’re meeting to get it tonight, I’ll sort things out with Lucas when I get back. I just— wait.” As usual, Isaac was only processing what David had actually said fifteen seconds after he’d said it. “Does he… like me?”

“I’ll put it this way — if you like him so much, you’ll get up off your ass and go talk to him about it yourself, right now!” The line went dead.

“Hey, sorry, Lucas, that was a work thing,” David said coolly.

Sam was staring out into the city skyline, feeling the breeze in his hair. “Oh, you’re fine.”   


“If you really want my advice? You’ve either got to make it clear to him where you stand or move on from it. The way I see it, those are your only two options, and you’ve got to do it now.” Sam chewed on his lip. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. Are you gonna be okay on your own?”

“Yeah,” Sam said, bringing his hand up to drag across his face. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. You’re right. Thanks.”

“Anytime, buddy.”

David was wrong about a lot of things, but this one thing in particular; Sam definitely had more than two options.

_ Heeeeeey, Danny. _

_ _ _ what do you want _

_ I can’t just text an old friend? _

_ _ _ lol yeah right. you need a favor _

_ ...okay, you’re right, but I really do want to catch up sometime. _

_ _ _ you saying that is not going to make me any more likely to accept. _

_ You’re good. _

_ I don’t want you to ask why, but I really need you to get your brother away from the guy he’s been seeing. _

_ _ _ um okay why _

_ What did I just say? _

_ _ _ yeah you know me a little better than that buddy _

_ He works at PFL and I’m concerned about their relationship getting in the way of some stuff I’ve got on the backburner. Is that good enough for you? _

_ _ _ oh my god do you mean the skinny twink he’s been chatting up every day for the past week? _

_ _ _ I can keep them apart no problem my dude _

_ I appreciate it a lot. _

_ The usual? _

_ _ _ oh nah this one can just be a personal favor _

_ Somehow, I don’t believe you. _

_ _ _ no really you can just pay me back later or owe me or something _

_ ..whatever you say. _

He turned around and Isaac was standing at the door, street clothes on and a somewhat guilty look on his face. He knocked on the glass and opened the door when Sam gestured for him to. “Hey, I, uh,” he swallowed and tried again. “I’m going to go out with North for a bit, is that alright?”

Sam pursed his lips. “Sure. Be safe.”

“I will,” Isaac said gently, closing the door behind him as if he was afraid of breaking it.


	19. Major Lift

_ “You don’t really trust Lucas, do you?” _

_ Isaac frowned. “What are you talking about? Of course I trust Lucas.” _

_ “Then you’re dumber than you look,” Allison said, leaning forward onto her kneecaps. “He’s obviously hiding something from you. You’re following him pretty blindly here for pretty much nothing.” _

_ “Well, I’m sort of blackmailing him,” Isaac said, taking a sip of his water because he didn’t know how to cap off that statement.   
_

_ Allison burst out laughing. “Oh my god, you’re horrible at this,” she wheezed. “He is playing. You. For. A. Sucker. Read that.” She gestured again to the file on the table. _

_ Isaac glanced at it and then looked back at Allison. “No.” _

_ “Willful ignorance is the worst way to do this. He’s gonna get you killed. Go on.” _

_ She gave it another purposeful shove, and Isaac glared at it like one would a rather large spider you really weren’t expecting. “If you can get us the complete one from North, all of your problems will just go away,” she said under her breath. “Just read it.”  _

Afternoon, Day 17

“Hey, Lucas!” Isaac chirped, only to have Sam storm right past him without even tearing his eyes away from the point ahead of him. “Uh, I wanted to know what sounds good for dinner—”

“We are work partners,” Sam snapped coldly. “Even less. We should not be having friendly conversations like this.”

Isaac fumbled with words for a second before settling on, “Um, I withdrew from PFL.”

“Good, I was worried you’d get hurt doing something stupid.”

“And I, I stopped sleeping with—”

Sam finally met his gaze, and his glare alone was enough to shut his mouth. “Felix, if I cared about the machinations of your personal life, I would have pursued you on my own. Alright?” He slammed things angrily into his suitcase. “I should never have gotten tangled up in all this, and I certainly hope you don’t believe that our possible personal relationship is going to get in the way of anything we need to do as professionals.”

Isaac scowled. “You don’t mean that.”

“Try me.”

“What about that time on the beach?” Isaac tried. “Or, or dinner together at the Pine?”

Sam faltered for only a moment, before shaking his head. “Those were mistakes.”

“Mistakes—” Isaac tried to ignore the stab in his chest. “You said you liked me!”

“Well,  _ clearly  _ I misjudged you.”  


“You want to know the truth?” Isaac screamed. “‘Cause I’ll tell you! I was only sleeping with him to get information about ACE, alright?” Sam’s face softened just slightly, just enough. The Hunter/Gatherer dossier was sitting in his luggage only feet away from him, and while it was his only proof, he  _ obviously _ couldn’t show it to Sam, God, what a stupid idiot he was, “it didn’t mean anything.”

“Prove it,” Sam said, because  _ of course  _ he would say that.

Isaac pointed, eyes wild, realizing he had finally caught the lie. “Why would you care if you didn’t like me?” Sam’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “Look, I get it if you don’t want to be with me because of the whole blackmail thing, but I wish that instead of ignoring me for three days, you would just  _ talk to me about _ —”

Isaac was momentarily distracted by Sam swiftly crossing the room and wadding up two fistfuls of his collar, pressing their lips together firmly. 

He blinked, momentarily disoriented, but finally pressed back against the touch and put a hand on Sam’s shoulder, moving against his mouth. When they finally broke apart, Sam looked almost terrified, his eyes fixed on Isaac’s like he’d never see them again.

“We can’t… you shouldn’t be with me,” Sam breathed, voice breaking. “I’m nothing but trouble.”

Isaac exhaled shakily, something that could have almost been considered a laugh. “That’s my line,” he said, smiling weakly.   


Sam put his hands on either side of Isaac’s face. “Isaac, really, I’ll.. I’ll ruin your life.”

“I’ll ruin yours worse.”   


“Isaac…” Sam looked as though he was nearly about to cry. “We can’t do this.”   


In spite of this, he slowly leaned back in until his lips found Isaac’s again. 


	20. The One Where They Have Sex

Evening, Day 22

Isaac examined his nails and spared Sam a glance. “You alright, baby?”   


“I-I’m a little hungry,” Sam groaned.

Isaac crossed the room and picked up a menu. “Mm, we could have something brought up here again.”

“B-but—”

“But what?” He towered over the bed and smirked. “But then I’d have to undo all these knots, and I put so much work into doing that. Do you want me to have to do that?”

Sam swallowed. “N-no, sir.”

Isaac smirked. “Is there something you need?” he asked teasingly, raking his nails down Sam’s exposed chest. He arched into the touch and gasped, but still looked away. He was easily Isaac’s favorite of his few sexual partners; easy to embarrass and willing to do absolutely anything. “If you want something, you have to tell me.”

Sam whimpered. Isaac reached for his cock and ghosted his fingers over it, drawing a shudder out of his partner. “You have to beg.”

“P-please, Isaac,” he said just below a breath, “please fuck me…”

“What was that?” Sam moaned when Isaac’s other hand tugged on his hair, loose and spilling all over the pillow like chocolate-colored silk. “You have to speak louder.”

“Fuck me, please,” Sam said before he could stop himself, eyes screwed shut. He strained against the ropes, but achieved very little besides straining his biceps. Isaac smirked, starting to stroke Sam’s cock gently.

Sam whined again when Isaac crossed the room for a bottle of lube. “I have a few other ideas,” he said, the touch of sadism definitely not unnoticed by Sam. Isaac returned and slowly, as slowly as he could imagine how, applied it to Sam’s cock, who struggled to thrust up into the touches. “You’re so cute,” Isaac mused. “Who knew you would be such a slut for me?”   


Sam moaned again and looked away, but couldn’t ignore the sensation of Isaac sliding down onto his cock. Isaac smiled down at him somewhat cruelly and started bouncing, Sam punctuating each time he bottomed out with a cut-off little sound. “You love this, don’t you?” Isaac purred, playing with one of Sam’s nipples idly. “You love being totally at my mercy. I’m going to make you cum, and you can’t even touch me.” 

Now Sam was moaning steadily, wantonly, as though he was completely helpless to speak, and in many ways, he was. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Isaac stroking his own cock, beautiful neck exposed as he threw his head back and groaned out Sam’s name.

Except it most certainly was not Sam’s name, and the guilt that had been gnawing at him since they started this thing came back full force, but the abrupt reality of cumming was too absolute to ignore. He cried out his pleasure, trying desperately to buck up into Isaac’s ass as he continued to work him through the orgasm.   


Isaac tsked. “You were really desperate for me, huh?” He lifted himself off of Sam, making him whimper, and crawled forwards, putting his hand on the headboard and using the other to guide his cock. “Suck.”   


Sam immediately did as he was told, taking Isaac into his mouth and doing everything he could with such a limited range of motion. Before long, it was Isaac’s turn to scream out and break down under Sam’s tongue. His thighs squeezed the side of Sam’s neck and his weight pressed down, choking him somewhat, and he fought getting back to hard as Isaac finished, panting, and pulled out.

“You okay?” he asked, hands nervously fluttering over Sam’s shoulders.

Sam swallowed roughly. “Water.”

Isaac darted to the nightstand and grabbed the class, helping tilt it back slowly so that Sam could take a drink. He set it down gently and got to work untying Sam, rubbing feeling back into his wrists and ankles. Once he was freed, he grabbed a towel to wipe him off, and put a blanket back on top of him before quickly cleaning himself and laying down next to him.

“Was it good?” he asked softly, rubbing a thumb against Sam’s jaw.

“Yeah, fuck yeah,” Sam breathed, kissing Isaac softly just once. “Do you really think that the plan is going to work—?”

Isaac interrupted him with another kiss, this one a little more forceful. “Baby, c’mon. We should rest. You’ll never be on your A game if you don’t catch up on sleep.”

Sam closed his eyes slowly. “I.. I guess that’s true.” He draped one arm across Isaac and Isaac, in return, slung a leg across his form, and they didn’t move for the rest of the night.


	21. Sweeps

_ hey, did north ever break up with that twink? _

_ Um, yeah, he did. Thanks for that, by the way. _

_ np. _

* * *

_ hey! how’s the trip going? _

_ It’s fine, why? _

_ you just haven’t responded to messages in a while _

_ maybe he finally met someone whos relationship material ayyyyyy _

_ Callate.  
_

_ hazme. _

_ guys come on it is so not fair when you talk in Spanish _

_ That’s a good incentive for you to learn it then. _

_ But really, the trip is going fine, I’m just about done here. _

_ oh really? thats awesome its so weird without you around _

_ Yeah, I’ll keep you guys posted. _

_ alright cool _

_ have fun nerd _

* * *

_ Hey, how are things with you and Isaac? _

_ Um.. good? _

_ Why? _

_ Just thought I’d ask. I’m just trying to be a good friend, jeez. _

_ I was never sure if a serious relationship was super important to you but I always felt a _

_ little awkward around you with Tucker, heh _

_ Oh, pssh, you’re fine. _

_ I do have to appear in court for a while though, so I might not be responding to messages. _

_ Oh, are you finally concluding the case? _

_ Just about, yeah. There’s a few more things to wrap up and then we’ll be done. _

_ That’s so great! Good luck! _

_ Thanks. I’ll need it. _


	22. Ich Luge

Day 30

Sam darted around a corner and held his gun perpendicular — he knew it was sloppy, but he was nervous. This was easy. This was  _ way  _ too easy.   


Something wasn’t right.

There were few patrols, and what patrols there were they’d managed to sneak past while barely even trying. It seemed to be getting to Isaac even more than Sam; he could tell they were both terrified of being discovered, of what they’d find when they reached their objective. Isaac had carefully studied the blueprints and led the way, refusing help, although Sam augmented along the way when he felt like it was necessary.

The door they were approaching was tricky, because it was at the very end of a hallway with no way to escape if they were discovered. Isaac’s faith in his study of the patrol buffeted them along, but provided no solace for Sam’s paranoia.

They scuttled towards it, no one in sight and no possible way for this to fail, which meant it definitely would, but all Sam could do now was hold his breath and watch Isaac pick the door. “And you’re sure this room isn’t staffed?” he whispered. 

“No, there shouldn’t be anybody in here,” Isaac said, delicate fingers playing with the lock. “But just in case, be ready.”

Sam nodded once and steeled himself. The lock clicked quietly and Isaac glanced at Sam one last time, trepidatious, but determined. He turned the knob slowly and the two of them slipped inside.   


The door closed behind them and Cyrus, looking smug, swiveled around in his chair, sitting at a desk illuminated by a single ceiling light. It cast steep shadows on his face that only added to the chill of the room. “Thank you, Felix,” he said, fingers steepled. “That will be all.” Sam whipped around to face Isaac, who wouldn’t meet his gaze. His posture, tense, still perturbed, still combat ready, somehow seemed defensive now. He turned with dread back to meet Cyrus’s gaze. “Hello, Sam.”

Isaac blurted out, “S-Sam?” Sam closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

Cyrus just smirked. “Keeping secrets from each other, I see? I probably should have seen that one coming.”

Sam balled up his fists. He wasn’t even processing any of this through his rage. “You lied to me?” he said, voice trembling.

Isaac’s expression almost turned soft; less guilty, more afraid. “I—I didn’t lie,” he stammered, “the blackmail part was true! He just...” He trailed off, without an explanation. “You lied to me, too,” he said weakly.

“I didn’t tell you my real name because I didn’t trust you,” Sam spat, glaring over his shoulder. “And as it turns out, I was right not to.” He made a face like a kicked puppy and Cyrus cleared his throat.

“I believe I said we were done here,” he said coolly.   


“Wait,” Isaac interrupted. “Wait.” He was staring at the floor, eyebrows furrowed. “You know each other.” Cyrus’s eyebrow raised. He wasn’t angry, merely fascinated and waiting patiently for the next move, like a cat playing with mice. “Did you ever work for MOIRA?”

“No, never,” he replied, smile still present. “Why?”

Isaac’s eyes went wide. “You’re Icarus,” he breathed, turning to Sam, “and you’re Iscariot.” Cyrus’s smile disappeared and for a moment, he actually looked surprised. “You two worked for ACE together. I—I had heard about your past work, but I didn’t think—”

Cyrus narrowed his eyes. “Kill him.”

Without hesitation, Sam pulled the pistol from his hip and shot Isaac in the chest. He choked on a cry, staggering backwards and putting his hand over the bleeding hole uselessly, before toppling to the ground.

Sam closed his eyes and exhaled, breath unsteady, almost a sob. “Oh, don’t feel guilty,” Cyrus said, all saccharine charm, standing up from his desk. “He was just using you, after all.”

“Fuck you,” Sam replied, not moving a muscle.   


“Don’t worry,” he said, standing by his side and looking over the body. “He died thinking that you had been double-crossing him this whole time. Your revenge on him for doing this was a part of my plan from the very start.”

Sam was still staring down his arm at the place Isaac had been standing only moments ago, breath labored. “He trusted me,” he said lowly. “We trusted each other.”

Cyrus grabbed Sam’s chin and forced him to look into his eyes. “If I taught you anything, it’s that you should never trust other agents. How quickly you forget.”

Sam glared at him. “So my affections have to be stolen,” he all but growled. “It’s not enough to ruin my life, you have to take me back again and again and destroy whoever gets in the way.”

“I made you everything that you are,” Cyrus snarled, tightening his grip. “Every bit of your psyche, every wire and circuit, I created with my bare hands. I can control you and take you apart just as easily. You’d do well to remember that.” He let go and smiled again. He wrapped his arms around Sam’s torso and pulled his arms down, taking the gun from his hand. “And now we never have to be apart again,” he cooed. “We can resume work as usual.”

“If you think I’m not going to spend the rest of my life fighting you—”

“I can ensure that life will be very short, if you’d like.”

He caressed Sam’s face gently with his free hand and kissed him softly. Sam rested both hands on Cyrus’s hips tentatively, keeping completely still until a quiet, forceful voice said, “Kiss me back.” And he was helpless to refuse.


	23. Recovery

Sam was sitting up in bed, his room completely dark. He couldn’t sleep — not that he needed to, or wanted to — unable to turn off his thoughts. He had no idea what Dexter and Tucker were going to think, what they would do if— when, probably when they found out. All his cunning wouldn’t stand up in the face of the very thing that created him. He had outsmarted him once. It probably wouldn’t happen again.

The door opened and Cyrus stepped in. “I’ll be performing some hardware updates on you in a few hours,” he said simply. “Be ready for when that happens.”   


“Yes, sir,” Sam replied in a flat tone, hating himself for it.

Cyrus smirked. “Atta boy. It’s funny how you were talking about trust earlier. You were  _ both  _ keeping secrets. Isn’t that ironic?” Sam glared at him through the corner of his eye. “Oh, and, here.” He ducked back out of the doorway and returned holding Isaac’s corpse by the scruff of his shirt. He tossed him carelessly on the floor and wiped his hands clean. “Do with that what you will. I want it out of here by the morning.”

Sam stiffened and dove for the floor as Cyrus closed the door. He rolled the body over onto his back, touching his face.  _ He’s not even cold yet. _ He put his fingers against the skin beneath Isaac’s jaw and his stomach flipped. Every few seconds, a gentle beat.   


He jumped up and grabbed the cables that recharged him when he was in critical condition and took several quick breaths to prepare himself. Lifting his shirt slightly, he opened the panel near his left hip and connected the cables to the plug hidden neatly away by synthetic skin. Electricity began surging through him immediately; he had to grit his teeth not to scream and he rubbed his hands together rapidly, watching the charges leap and dance across his forearms. 

Praying, he slammed his hands down on Isaac’s chest. His body convulsed once but his face didn’t change at all. He built up more electricity again, muscles beginning to shake, teeth chattering together. Once again, he slammed on Isaac’s chest and his body spasmed upwards, a sharp, desperate suck of breath sounding as his eyes flew open. He grunted as he ripped the cable out, casting it to the floor.   


Quickly, he slapped his hand over Isaac’s mouth as he tried to scream, looking up at his killer, his savior, his partner, and he glared furiously. “You can’t scream,” he hissed. “Cyrus has no idea you’re alive. Promise you won’t scream if I take my hand away.”

He nodded slowly, still glaring, and Sam pulled his hand away. Isaac’s hand shot up to his neck, grasping at him. “You fucking shot me,” he said through gritted teeth.   


“I’m sorry,” Sam said as sincerely as he could, not at all hindered by Isaac’s attempt at choking him, much to the latter’s surprise. “I have to do what Cyrus tells me. He made me that way.”

“I know you guys used to be partners, but I really don’t think you can—“ Isaac cut himself off and laughed mirthlessly. “No way. There’s no fucking way.” They stared at each other in silence for a second. “...are you serious?” His voice was soft, disbelieving, but not cruel.   


Sam winced. “Unfortunately.” 

“I don’t believe that,” Isaac said, trying to sit up, but he collapsed with a strangled groan, hissing through gritted teeth. “God damm, that fucking hurts.”

“I just defibrillated you,” Sam said nervously, hands hovering. “You’ll experience chest pains and fatigue for a while.”   


Isaac squinted up from the floor. “You have a defibrillator?”

“Not... exactly.”

His eyes tracked down across Sam’s chest, his exposed abs, the panel propped open just above where his v-line began sloping downwards. “Oh, shit.” He looked back up into his eyes. “You really are a robot.”

“Technically, I’m an android,” Sam said carefully, something like shame in his voice. He glanced away sheepishly and closed the panel on his hip, pulling his shirt back down. “You, uh. Probably have a lot of questions. And we don’t have long, but you need a minute to recover, so.. shoot.”

“So Cyrus built you?”

“Yes,” Sam replied, putting the cable back in its hole in the wall and sealing it shut.

“...why?”

He paused. “..I don’t know. To have somebody who could love him and do exactly what he wanted, I guess?”

“So you have feelings?”

“Of course I have feelings,” he said, the hurt leaking into his voice. “The technology isn’t hard, as far as I know. Why he gave them to me, I’m not sure, but I realized I didn’t like him and that he was just using me after a while, so I left.”

Isaac bit his lip. “I’m— sorry if that’s insulting, I just...” He fumbled with the words. “I don’t, I didn’t know if you, I mean, if you really...”

Sam turned around, heartbreak written all over his face. “No, I... I swear on everything that I do.” He grabbed a pen off of the desk and started dismantling it absentmindedly. “Although I get it if you wouldn’t want any kind of relationship with, y’know.” He chewed on his cheek for a moment and ground out the unspoken. “An android.”

“Trust me, my questioning our relationship has nothing to do with you being an android,” Isaac said, making him blush, but he paid it no heed. “What are you doing?”

Sam was cleaning off the tip of the pen with his shirt, ink cartridge already removed. “Taking the bullet out of you.” He crouched down next to Isaac and said, “Bite me.” before digging the pen tip into his flesh and shoving the side of his free hand into Isaac’s mouth. Isaac shrieked against his flesh, his hands catapulting to Sam’s body in search of something to hold onto. But gradually, Sam dug the bullet out, and Isaac did as he was told and bit down on his hand, mostly panting out his pain until Sam was able to remove the bullet with his fingers. 

He set the bullet aside and wiped the blood and spit off on his pants. “Good job.” He grabbed a shirt from the drawer under the bed and ripped a piece off, wrapping it around Isaac’s chest and tying it in the back. “Sorry that this is the best I can do.”

“You’re an android spy,” Isaac said with wonder, bullet already forgotten. “Is that legal?”

“Strictly speaking, no, but no one has found out as of yet.”

“So can you actually turn invisible?”   


His jaw worked a little. “Yes,” he said finally. “I can actually turn invisible.”

“I fuckin’ knew it!” Isaac exclaimed quietly, a pained smirk on his face. “What else can you do?”

“Well, in terms of regular human functions, I can eat, drink - not alcohol though - blush, cry, sweat, bleed, and, uh.” He looked away. “Have.. relations. Obviously.”

“God, just say sex.” Sam’s face flushed even further, but Isaac continued, “So you can eat, how does—?”

“You don’t want to know. Can you sit up?”

Isaac carefully pushed himself up to sitting with gritted teeth and propped himself up on two hands. “Yeah, I think I can walk,” he said, initially refusing Sam’s outstretched hand but being forced to accept after collapsing to the ground again. He pulled himself up on shaky legs and found stability after leaning on Sam for a few terse moments. “Yeah. Yeah, I can walk.”

“Then let’s move.”

“Wait.” Isaac spun Sam around by his shoulders and put both hands on his face, pressing their lips together slowly. Sam’s eyes went wide and his hands hovered away from Isaac’s body, like he was made of porcelain, but gradually settled on his shoulders as he allowed his eyes to flutter closed. After a few long, heavenly moments, Isaac pulled away, face slightly flushed and eyes full of wonder. He grinned, exhaling softly. “Okay, cool. Just making sure.”

* * *

“The key is this,” Sam hissed. “I have to do whatever he tells me, so if you can keep him from talking somehow, then we can get the jump on him long enough to—” He fumbled with the words.   


“Kill him?”

“I couldn’t kill him,” Sam admitted.   


Isaac shrugged. “I could.”

“Isaac.”

“What? I’m serious."

“Shit!” Sam grabbed Isaac and pulled him around a corner, throwing the two of them to the ground. “He’s right there. This is our only chance.”

Isaac wrestled himself from Sam’s grasp and burst out from behind the wall, gun already pointed in Cyrus’s direction.   


Cyrus stumbled somewhat in surprise, his expression shocked and his arms splayed wide. “What— you died!”

“I got better,” Isaac said, before releasing a round. One of them nicked him in the shoulder before he got wise and dove for cover, finding it behind some crates.   


Cyrus tsked loudly and Isaac heard the sound of a gun being loaded. “Honestly. Isn’t getting the jump on me hardly sporting? Perhaps we could just talk.”

Isaac scoffed. The sounds were slow, hindered. He’d really done a number on Cyrus.

“He doesn’t really care about you, you know.”

He stopped.

“What else do you think he wants to do once you’re done with me? Run away together?” Every beat of Sam’s useless heart sang,  _ yes, God yes, more than anything,  _ but he could tell from the air that Isaac was waiting, and listening, and possibly believing it. “This is another ploy. You should have known better than to cross me.” He finally stood, but his arm was thoroughly covered in blood and he couldn’t seem to stop shaking. “In a few minutes, this place will be flooded with my guards, and you’ll die your second death.”

“No, I won’t,” Isaac said smugly, and the blatant nature of his words caught them both off guard. “See, I know for a fact that you told them all to clear out because of this little fake heist, and they all seemed very insistent about making sure that nothing went wrong here.”

Cyrus’s eyes widened. “You didn’t.”

“Well, sure I did. They’re certainly overworked as it is. Don’t you think they deserve a day off?”

Isaac knew this was no time for feeling smug, but the fear on Cyrus’s face was arguably the most satisfying thing he’d ever seen. “It’s just you and me, buddy,” Isaac said, loading another clip. “There’s no one here to save you.”

Cyrus smirked. “That’s where you’re wrong. Sam?”

Sam flinched, and Isaac did his best not to take his gaze off of Cyrus.

“Another word, and I’ll unload this whole clip,” Isaac snapped.

The grin on Cyrus’s face only got wider. “So he  _ is  _ here.” Isaac furrowed his eyebrows further and didn’t respond at all. “Sam, dearest, drop whatever you’re holding and join us out here.”

There was the sound of a gun clattering to the floor and Sam stiffly moving out from behind the wall. He looked angry, scared, an impossible combination of both. “Would you care to—”

Isaac did the only thing he could think to do in that moment, which was the dumbest thing possible, and he knew it, but he still threw his gun at Cyrus’s face. He collapsed to the ground, blood spurting from his nose, a cry of agony coming from him. Isaac raced forward and ground Cyrus’s face into the ground with his heel, listening to his quiet groaning. “You’ll never control him again. Hear me? He’s his own person.”

“He’s a robot,” Cyrus laughed mercilessly. “He doesn’t feel. Come get Isaac  _ mrph _ —” Isaac squished his cheek with a steel-toed boot, making his words fade out easily.   


Sam glanced from him back up to Isaac. “Why did that work?”

“No one ever expects stupid,” Isaac replied, shrugging. “Do you think we should let him have any last words?”

Sam chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Better not.”   


“Anything you wanna say?”

Sam looked down at Cyrus, glaring at him from the floor. “You’re going to die cold and lonely, Mason,” he said simply, “and you’re going to deserve it. Oh, and Isaac?” He smiled as he said this, realizing its silliness even as he went on, not caring. “A way better fuck than you ever were. I couldn’t let a guy like him go to waste.” When Mason’s eyes widened in anger, he just shrugged. “You said you wanted him out of the building by the morning,” he said, feigning innocence. “You weren’t very specific about the manner of removal.”


	24. The Ends, Justified

Sam draped his arm over Isaac’s shoulder outside the building, easily steering him through the crowd of police cruisers. He flashed his badge and they weren’t bothered again. “If you don’t want to tell me, that’s perfectly alright, but what made you feel like you had to blackmail me in the first place..?”   


A noise broke in the back of Isaac’s throat and he looked at the ground sheepishly. “I… also used to work with ACE,” he said. “He told me I had to bring you to him or he would expose me to TMS.”

Sam’s eyebrows jumped. “I’m honestly a little surprised I didn’t realize who you were sooner. The tattoo, North mentioning the Iscariot thing—”

“I’m sorry, you worked with ACE?” Sam repeated.

“...yeah?”

“I just can’t— how did we never meet before? I would have fallen for you  _ so  _ hard,” Sam blurted out, causing Isaac to double over in laughter and wince from his still-aching chest.   


Sam cleared his throat. “And for the record, I didn’t reject you the first time because I was scared of you finding out I was an android, or because I was afraid of hurting you. It was because you were being an intrusive little shit and anything I might have felt towards you just withered up because of it.”   


“I know. I’m sorry.”   


“Sam?”

Sam perked up and saw two stunned but relieved faces staring at him from across the lot. He glanced at Isaac, who nodded and he let him go. “Tucker! Dexter!” He barreled into them, wrapping one arm around each of them and cradling his head between theirs as they embraced the hug. “God, I’m so glad to see you again.”   


“What are you doing here?” Tucker cried, breaking away. “Haven’t you been on a business trip? What the hell is going on?”

“I promise I can explain all of that, but I promise I’m okay and everything’s really alright,” Sam said as calmly as he could. “There’s a bunch of stuff I should have told you a lot sooner.” Suddenly he noticed the contraption strapped to Tucker’s chest. “Oh my god, that’s a baby.”

Tucker looked down at it as though he had forgotten it was there. “Oh, yeah,” he said happily, bouncing slightly, causing the baby to gurgle. “This is Junior.” He bent down and cooed, “See that, Junior? That’s your Uncle Sam.”   


Sam threw out his arms, mouth agape. “What the hell? I was gone for  _ a _ month. Singular.”

“I don’t know, we adopted a kid,” Tucker said, shrugging with one arm and rubbing Junior’s head with the other. “I know it’s crazy news, but David and I have been thinking about getting our own place and settling down and shit, and, well, we were walking around town and we wandered into an orphanage and there was this baby, and we just kinda—“

Sam grabbed one of Tucker’s hands, silencing him. “I just— okay. You guys do you. I just need to let you both know that I’m a secret agent.” Their faces lit up, less in excitement and more in sudden understanding. “And I need you to promise me that nobody will find out. Can you do that?”

“Y’know,” Dexter said slowly, processing, “that.. makes a lot of things make way more sense.”

They both glanced at Isaac over Sam’s shoulder, who waved sheepishly. “He’s an agent too,” Sam added belatedly.

Tucker rolled his eyes. “Of fucking course.”

“Okay, but, that’s not all. Um. I guess there’s no good way to say this. I’m, uh.. a robot?”

The silence that hung between them was almost comical. “What,” Dexter said finally, voice totally unreadable.

Junior made a small grunt, looking up at Sam. “I’m with him,” Tucker added.   


Without breaking eye contact with Sam, Dexter said quietly, “Tucker, that’s really fucking cute, but this is not the time.”   


“No, really,” Sam continued, gauging their reactions. “You know Cyrus Cobalt?”

“Yeah..?” the two of them said at once, trepidatious.   


“He’s real, and he built me, and we used to be secret agents together.” 

Tucker was still staring in confusion, but Dexter narrowed his eyes. “Oh yeah? Prove it. Say something only a robot could say.”

Sam reached down, lifted his shirt, and opened one of his many maintenance hatches, a panel about the area of his abdominal muscles, and grinned cheekily as both of Tucker’s hands flew to his mouth, gawking. Junior burbled gently, reaching out his hands towards Sam. Dexter just glared up at him.

“Do you mean to tell me. That you’re as jacked as you are. And you didn’t even have to work for it?”

Sam, unable to parse whether Dexter’s anger was genuine or humorous, let his smile drop. He shut the panel before any prying eyes could see. “I’ve been lying to you about both my job and my status as a human since the very day we met, and you’re upset that I don’t have to do anything to look this good?”

“Of course I am!” Dexter shouted back, pointing his finger in accusation. “You didn’t work a day in your life for any of that! How big is your dick?? Did Cyrus give you a huge dick, too?!” 

“Yeah, actually.”

Sam whipped around to see Isaac by his side and he slapped him on the arm. Tucker was still watching slack-jawed while Dexter turned his anger to Isaac. “And  _ you. _ I bet you’re a robot too, huh?”

“Wh-what?” Isaac fumbled with the accusation. “No, I’m a person. We’re just both agents.”   


“And you’re dating him?”

Isaac smiled nervously. “Well, we’ve only known each other for about a month, so I guess it’s not super serious? But—“

“Okay, look,” Dexter interrupted, pushing right into Isaac’s personal space. “Really, I shouldn’t have to have this conversation with you, because Sam can fend for himself, seeing as he’s  _ a fucking robot, _ but if you ever—“

“Keep your voice down!” Sam hissed, waving his hands. “I could still lose my job over that. I just wanted to tell both of you.”

Dexter looked up in surprise. “Oh what?”   


“I know you’re probably upset with me for lying,” he said quietly, “but I hope you can understand why I did it and that we can still be friends. I care about you guys a lot.”

“Are you kidding?” Tucker blurted out, startling all of them. “We love you, dude, and this might take some getting used to but we’re not going anywhere.”   


Sam smiled softly and he could feel the tell-tale burning in his throat, but swallowed it down before it got any worse. “Is David here?”

Tucker frowned. “Yeah, he’s over there, why?”

Sam looked up to see David leaning against Dexter’s car, staring at the horizon. The sun was bleeding bright red and pink colors over the clouds and David’s expression was totally even as he watched the sun slowly dipping down. “Perfect. I’ll be right back.” He marched over to the car and David looked up as he approached. 

“Agent Washington.”

David’s eyes went wide and Sam folded his arms. “When were you planning on telling me about that?” He stammered for a moment before Sam continued, “I’ve been friends with North and South since before ACE. You don’t have anything on me.”   


“Right,” David said nervously, voice wavering, shoulders shrugged. “Well, uh.. the thing is, um...” He looked like he was worried Sam was about to snap his neck. “Look, I, uh.. I have access to a lot of information at my agency, and, uh...” Sam narrowed his eyes.

“If you’re telling me you only started dating Tucker to try to get dirt on me—“

“What?!” David started. “No no no, absolutely not. I love Tucker so much. We just adopted this baby and it’s crazy, he’s so cute— I love Tucker. That has nothing to do with you. It’s just.” He cleared his throat. “I, found out about the Hunter-Gatherer thing when Tucker and I had been dating for a few months, and, well.” Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “I guess I figured that you might.. be trying to hurt Tucker and Dexter? So when I looked into you and Felix, I found out where he worked and that he’s basically harmless.”

Sam nodded. “But at that point, I had already gotten worried and I couldn’t risk finding out much more without getting in trouble, and when North told me he gave you my number...” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I kind of assumed you were gonna kill me.” 

“Why would I—”

“I don’t know, for keeping secrets?? It made sense at the time,” he exclaimed, carefully glancing over Sam’s shoulder to observe Tucker and Dexter. “I was worried that they would get dragged into it and when we kidnapped Isaac—”

“ _ You kidnapped Isaac?” _

“—yes, it’s a very long story, and we were using him to distract North from you, but the whole dating thing was never a part of the plan, and by the time we found out about all this it was far too late to help—”

“David, stop,” Sam interrupted. “Can we just, be normal for a second? Can we just be friends right now and process all of that later?”

David smiled softly. “Can Isaac move into that nice big studio with us?”

Sam looked over his shoulder and grinned at Isaac. “Yeah, I think we can make that work.”


End file.
